Wolff admits Mercedes has most powerful F1 engine – and Red Bull agrees – as ADUO returns to spotlight

Toto Wolff admitted that Mercedes has the strongest Formula 1 power unit, which has sparked interest from Red Bull, as the ADUO monitoring comes into the spotlight again.

One of the major political hot topics of the new F1 era has been ADUO when the FIA revealed Red Bull-Ford Powertrains was considered the benchmark on the grid and not Mercedes. Having taken its assessment purely from the V6 engine, against what it preferred to do when the rules were being drawn up, the FIA was plied into a review of its results by Red Bull.

While Red Bull has accepted it won’t be able to change the results, it is still adamant that Mercedes has the strongest power unit and has raised concerns about being snookered by rivals being able to upgrade elements, while in theory they will not raise the level of their V6s to keep Red Bull at the top of ADUO.

Fresh intrigue into the saga arrived after the Belgian GP when Mercedes boss Wolff openly stated his team has the strongest power unit when talking about its ongoing reliability woes.

“We had an issue on all Mercedes engines that we lacked the power on the straight and that beat him [George Russell] badly, it 100% goes on us,” Wolff told Sky Sports F1 about Russell’s straightline speed problem that led to contact with Lewis Hamilton and his Spa race retirement.

“We’re trying our best as a team, we have the most powerful power unit, we have a strong car that is capable of winning, everybody gives its maximum to minimise the mistakes and still it happens because we are humans at work.

“We let Kimi [Antonelli] down in Silverstone where George got a podium that was maybe better than the result should have been, and then one DNF’d in Montreal, the other one DNF’d in Barcelona, that’s a little bit the story of our season here. It’s a technical sport, mechanical sport.”

When told about Wolff’s admission, Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies wholeheartedly agreed as he hinted at the second ADUO period closing after the Hungarian GP next weekend.

“Toto is right. I also think that they have the most powerful power unit,” Mekies said after the Belgian GP. “And certainly they had a sizeable advantage on the straight this weekend again.

“But it’s not the first weekend. They have an advantage on the straight most weekends. And this weekend a bit more with the track sensitivity. So we will see what’s happening. As you said, the second period closing in Budapest in a week’s time. We’ll see what’s happening.”

Much ADUO about nothing

The first ADUO period saw Red Bull-Ford Powertrains placed at the top of the V6 power standings with Mercedes’ trailing by between 2-4%, meaning it is entitled to one additional upgrade this year and one more next season. Ferrari, Audi and Honda were considered more than 4% behind and able to access two upgrades this season and two more next year.

The second ADUO period began from the Monaco GP and concludes at the Hungarian GP next week, meaning in theory the results will be communicated no more than two weeks later. However, the results of the first ADUO period still have not been officially published amid the Red Bull review.

Therefore all eyes will be on the FIA after the Hungarian GP for the results of the second ADUO period and whether any changes have been made that could see Mercedes put at the top of the pile. If that was the case, Red Bull’s power unit would still need to be at least 2% off Mercedes to be eligible for the upgrade opportunities.

Additional reporting by Ronald Vording

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