Red Bull is still waiting for the outcome of the FIA's second ADUO (Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities) assessment, hoping it could provide a lifeline for their engine development. The factual review request for the first period appears not to have changed the result, and now all eyes are on the second period, which has just concluded.
Although the second ADUO period ended after the Hungarian Grand Prix, the results of the first period have still not been officially made public. However, during the Monaco race weekend, all manufacturers were informed of the outcome behind the scenes, with Red Bull-Ford Powertrains surprisingly ranked at the top. Despite the works team's dominant start to the season, Mercedes High Performance Powertrains was awarded one development token, while Ferrari, Audi, and Honda each received two upgrade opportunities.
The FIA had also prepared the public announcement at that point, but it was never issued in the weeks that followed. The reason is that Red Bull expressed considerable dissatisfaction behind the scenes, with CEO Oliver Mintzlaff even getting involved. However, the new Milton Keynes-based manufacturer did not have many avenues available to challenge the result. Yes, the system has its weaknesses—only the internal combustion engine is measured, while the upgrade opportunities apply to the electrical side of the power unit as well—but there is nothing that can be done about that in the short term.
FIA single-seater director Nikolas Tombazis has explained to media including Motorsport.com that he was open to taking more parameters into account, such as the size of the turbo, but that the teams and manufacturers had pushed to keep the system as simple as possible last year. Red Bull could therefore only request a factual review of the results. Team principal Laurent Mekies said that, in his view, there was "not a single data point" suggesting that Red Bull-Ford Powertrains has the best engine on the grid.
In reality, that factual check does not appear to have changed the outcome of the first period. Tombazis, when asked by Motorsport.com, said the FIA's measurements had proved accurate. "I think our measurement, in my opinion, has proven to be very accurate," he said. "With that said, has everything worked fine? No, because obviously people are not happy and so on. Do we need to think about improvements in the future? Yes, I would say so."
The feeling in the paddock is that manufacturers such as Mercedes and Ferrari played the game cleverly by not always showing their full hand during the opening race weekends, thereby securing an ADUO token. Ferrari even managed to secure two. Now, with the second period complete, will the outcome provide some relief for Red Bull, or will it only prolong their wait for development opportunities?
This decision is crucial for Red Bull, who are currently trying to close the performance gap. If the second period brings no change, they will have to wait even longer to improve their power unit. Conversely, if there is a surprise, it could be a season-saver for them.
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