Laurent Mekies expects Red Bull powertrains to qualify for early 2026 upgrade boost

Red Bull’s Laurent Mekies believes the RBPT power unit will qualify for an ADUO upgrade at the first checkpoint of the F1 2026 season.

The FIA’s power unit safety net allows lagging manufacturers to introduce upgrades ahead of the standard homologation schedule, and Laurent Mekies believes Red Bull Powertrains will qualify for at least one such upgrade.

Laurent Mekies on Red Bull Powertrains ADUO upgrade expectation

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While the power unit regulations for this current five-year cycle tightly prescribe the areas of the power unit that can be upgraded, and when said upgrades can be introduced, the FIA’s separate Additional Developments and Upgrades Opportunities [ADUO] system allows for upgrades to be made on a shorter timeframe.

In its most basic terms, the FIA maintains a performance index of the internal combustion engines in the five power units from the respective power unit manufacturers [PUMs].

If any PUM is measured to be more than two per cent off the performance index of the leading unit, they will qualify for one ADUO allocation that will permit an upgrade to be introduced at the start of the next window.

If the performance deficit is greater than four per cent, the lagging PUM will qualify for two ADUO upgrades.

The season is split into four equal quarters, with the first race of each six-race window marking the point at which upgrades can be introduced.

The first ADUO checkpoint is set to remain at its original point after the Miami Grand Prix, despite the cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix meaning the American race is now only the fourth round of the championship.

This means that PUMs granted an ADUO opportunity can roll out an upgrade for the Canadian Grand Prix.

As for who may qualify for an opportunity, it’s entirely possible that almost all of the PUMs may be in line for at least one upgrade. With Mercedes’ power unit apparently the class of the field, paddock speculation suggests that Ferrari, Audi, and Honda will all qualify – Honda’s deficit being such that it will likely qualify for two this year.

As for Red Bull Powertrains [RBPT], the project that has seen Red Bull emerge as a fully autonomous manufacturer for the first time in its history, the Milton Keynes-based effort has surprised by being competitive right from the off.

The power unit, developed under the technical leadership of Ben Hodgkinson, was a project pulled together by former Red Bull team boss and CEO Christian Horner between 2021 and mid-’25.

With Horner removed from his posts in the middle of last year, Laurent Mekies has inherited the leadership of the project.

With the power unit’s performance singled out by the drivers as not being a factor in Red Bull’s current performance struggles, the RBPT power unit has also been of comparable reliability to Mercedes.

Max Verstappen retired from the Chinese Grand Prix due to an ERS cooling issue, while Isack Hadjar retired in Australia with a power unit failure. Racing Bulls, also using the RBPT engines, have completed all three races with both cars.

With the ADUO checkpoint approaching, Mekies believes that, despite the impressive start for RBPT, the power units will be amongst those that are granted an opportunity to upgrade.

“In terms of criticality, we don’t think there is one area in particular that is lacking. We think it’s across the board,” he told the media in Japan, when asked if he reckons there will be an opportunity.

“So it’s chassis, it’s PU, it’s everything. It’s a difficult business to estimate your core output compared to the competition, especially in the game we are in with the energy deployment.

“However, to answer more directly, we think Mercedes is clearly ahead. Hence, with them being clearly ahead, we expect to be in the group of guys that will get ADUO.”

Asked whether he reckons this means one or two upgrades, which would indicate whether Mekies believes the power unit is more than two or four per cent off Mercedes’ performance, the French engineer laughed as he joked, “If you have information, I’ll take them!”

More on the ADUO system

What is ADUO? The FIA lifeline that could rescue Honda

F1 2026 power unit homologation deadline explained as March 1 arrives

With the Formula 1 teams all withdrawing to their factories for the month of April, due to the cancellation of the two Middle Eastern races, Mekies said he’s confident of Red Bull unlocking more performance from the RB22 upon the season resuming in Miami next month.

With only 16 points scored from the first three Grand Prix weekends, Red Bull occupies sixth in the Constructors’ Championship, with Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar yet to finish near the podium.

“I’m confident that we will use that break to make a very good step forward,” Mekies said.

“We need the time to deep dive into our data. We need the time to simulate back what we see in the data, into the tunnel, into our simulator, try some sensitivities, and all of that we can do without racing.

“Does it mean you come to Miami and you have solved everything as a miracle? No, but again, I am confident that the teams will get to the bottom of that understanding and start bringing improvements already in Miami.

“I think that’s what you will see, but only the track and the lap time will give us an indication of whether we go into the right direction. I don’t think we should expect a miracle about the amplitude of closing the gap, because the gap is substantial.

“But certainly, what we would like to see is to have a car where our drivers can push again, measure a gap to competitions in these conditions when we are able to push, and then the rest will be pure development to the end of the year.”

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