Red Bull team boss Laurent Mekies has launched a robust defence of his manufacturer's position in Formula 1's increasingly contentious ADUO debate, insisting the team has no issue with the FIA's methodoligy but serious concerns about the conclusions it has produced.
The Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities system was introduced to prevent engine manufacturers from falling irretrievably behind under Formula 1's tightly controlled power unit regulations.
Following the first assessment period of the season, which tracked races through the Canadian Grand Prix, Red Bull-Ford reportedly emerged as the benchmark manufacturer in terms of internal combustion engine performance – a verdict that could have major consequences for future development opportunities.
While the FIA shared its assessment with teams behind closed doors in Monaco, it has yet to publicly confirm the findings, partly because Red Bull has requested additional verification of the baseline data retrieved by the governing body.
Mekies backs the process – but not the outcome
Speaking after last weekend’s Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, Mekies made clear that Red Bull remains fully supportive of the principle underpinning the ADUO process.
“No, no, we are completely okay with the fact that the rules state that you should only try to estimate the pecking order of the ICE power. We are completely okay with that. We have all agreed to that and we don't think that is the issue," the Frenchman said.
That position is significant. Some critics have questioned whether measuring only internal combustion engine performance paints a complete picture, given that ADUO development tokens can ultimately be spent on other power unit components, including the battery and MGU-K.
But Mekies stressed that this is not Red Bull's complaint. Instead, the team wants to understand how the FIA arrived at a conclusion that appears fundamentally at odds with its own analysis.
“We certainly would like to have a deeper conversation because we do not see one single data sample that indicates that we would have an advantage over our friends at Mercedes,” Mekies said.
Red Bull points to on-track evidence
The stakes are significant. If the FIA's ranking remains unchanged, rival manufacturers could receive additional development opportunities while Red Bull remains locked out, potentially creating a competitive disadvantage that could extend well beyond the current season.
That is precisely why Mekies believes the governing body must be absolutely certain before finalising its assessment.
“Certainly, you would need to have extreme certainty in the way you are assessing the ICE pecking order, in order to have the right confidence to give it to the dominant team and not to the team that is chasing the dominant team,” he argued.
Mekies also pointed to what he sees as a clear correlation between Red Bull's competitiveness and circuits where engine power plays a larger role.
“Especially when you get relative performance variations from track layout to track layout that are perfectly consistent with the ICE power sensitivity,” he added.
To support his case, the Frenchman highlighted a pattern that Red Bull believes tells a very different story from the FIA's provisional conclusions.
Read also:
Hamilton: Red Bull topping ADUO ranking ‘definitely a surprise'
“You go to Canada, high ICE power sensitivity, we qualified sixth,” he explained. “You go to Monaco, low ICE power sensitivity, we qualified pretty much 0.04 from pole. Then you go to Barcelona, again high ICE power sensitivity, you qualify sixth again.
“We do not see one single data sample where we estimate ourselves higher than competition, let alone being consistently above them.”
The message from Red Bull is clear: the team is not trying to rewrite the rules. It simply wants proof that the numbers justify the verdict.
Until the FIA completes its additional checks and formally publishes the results, the controversy is unlikely to fade. And for Mekies, the central question remains unanswered – if Red Bull truly possesses the strongest internal combustion engine in Formula 1, where exactly is the evidence?
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