Lewis Hamilton has confirmed that Ferrari is to receive Additional Upgrade and Development Opportunities (ADUO) upgrades from the FIA.
The ADUO system has been designed to allow power unit manufacturers to upgrade their engines if they are found to be behind the class-leading unit, with performance development otherwise banned.
For those teams found to be within 2% of the class-leading design, one upgrade will be permitted in 2026 and then in 2027, and for those found to be greater than 2% down, two upgrades per year will be allocated.
The FIA is expected to announce shortly who has been granted ADUO upgrades – but Hamilton, who finished second for Ferrari at the Monaco Grand Prix to Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes – has revealed his team will receive ADUO.
“I mean, we go back to long straights [in Barcelona],” Hamilton told Sky Sports F1.
“But I think the news came out either yesterday or today that Red Bull has the most powerful engine, Mercedes is second, and then we are behind.
“So now we’ve got these tokens to try and develop and close the gap, but that is like an eight-to-10-month project, so it is not something we can just do next week.
“We will be pushing as hard as we can to close up, and for next week, I think we will hopefully be able to add some components to the car and try to close the gap to [Mercedes], but it is going to be hard there.”
