Laurent Mekies addresses the deficit of the Red Bull power unit compared to the Mercedes engine. Although it was suggested from the test days that the Austrian’s engine is as strong as that of the Silver Arrows, the French team principal states that Red Bull itself has identified a deficit of ‘three tenths of a second’. The revelation from Red Bull comes just before the FIA awards the first ADUO.
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F1 engine manufacturers will find out this month whether they will receive additional development opportunities for their power units, via the new Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities (ADUO) rule. Engine manufacturers with a deficit of more than two percent compared to the strongest engine, currently Mercedes, are allowed to implement an engine upgrade. Toto Wolff already warned that the ADUO should not be used by teams to overtake Mercedes. The Austrian even hinted that the rule should actually only be used by Honda. According to Wolff, Aston Martin’s engine supplier is the only manufacturer truly experiencing serious problems.
Three Tenths
Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies agrees with Wolff that Honda, in particular, is lagging behind the other engine manufacturers, but also sees a huge gap to the Silver Arrows at the front. According to the Frenchman, Red Bull is ‘three tenths, we think internally’, behind Mercedes. However, Mekies doesn’t expect the Austrian team to quickly introduce major engine upgrades, even if they are granted the ADUO. “While in theory you have the right to implement (an engine upgrade, ed.) immediately after the ruling, are we ready for it? Probably not, because you still have to work with four engines during the season,” Mekies tells The Race.
“The regulations force you to choose the right moment. So you will have to try to bundle the upgrades and then make sufficiently large steps with them,” the team principal continues. “Realistically, I don’t think you will see it (an upgrade due to the ADUO rule, ed.) in the first part of the season, at least not from us. But certainly in the second part of the season, we will try to implement something, even for 2027. Then you are allowed to bring upgrades anyway.”
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Red Bull Power Unit Better Than Expected
Furthermore, the three-tenths gap to Mercedes is smaller than Mekies himself had expected. “It has clearly exceeded expectations. We had prepared for a much worse starting position,” he says. “Even in this competitive world, where even two tenths of a second make a big difference compared to the best teams, the project could have been in jeopardy for two or three years. Now that danger has passed.”
Mekies therefore has confidence that Red Bull can turn the tide, even though the team is currently behind Haas in the constructors’ championship. “We have problems, we need to find those tenths. We need to improve the car. That will happen. Not in Miami, but it will happen.”
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