Max Verstappen says Red Bull will discuss with the FIA why its rivals have been granted extra opportunities to develop their power unit.
The FIA published the results of its first assessment of teams’ power units under the Additional Development Upgrade Opportunities (ADUO) regulations. These rules allow teams whose combustion engines are judged to be significantly behind the leading design to introduce further performance upgrades.
Despite Mercedes’ strong results this season, the FIA concluded that the Red Bull-Ford power unit — the first produced by Ford under its new arrangement — currently has the most powerful combustion engine. As a result, Mercedes and Ferrari were both allocated additional ADUO allowances, with Ferrari judged further behind and receiving more opportunities.
Verstappen said his team “were all a bit surprised” by the FIA’s finding. “Yes, I think we can be proud of the job that we have done, but we never felt like we were the best, so that’s why we were surprised,” he told Sky.
“That’s what I think we’re discussing with the FIA to understand what happened there. But let’s see what comes out of it.”
Asked whether he hoped the discussions would change the FIA’s decision, Verstappen replied: “I don’t know, I think it’s worth the discussion.”
Mercedes driver George Russell said the relative strength of Red Bull-Ford’s combustion engine was visible during pre-season testing.
“I wasn’t surprised because it was all agreed with the manufacturers. The ADUO assessment is based on the combustion side of the power unit and we knew from the beginning, from Barcelona, that Red Bull seemingly had a really strong combustion engine,” he said.
“I think the performances we’ve shown recently as a team have just shown how strong our chassis is as well,” Russell added. “There’s been so much talk around our engine, et cetera, and the engine is great, but the chassis is incredible.”
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