Ferrari will introduce an updated power unit at this weekend’s Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix as it strives to close the gap to Mercedes.
Mercedes has started Formula 1’s new era strongly—leading both championships—but its unbeaten run was halted at the last grand prix in Barcelona by Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari.
That win came in a tire-limited race in hot conditions at a high-energy circuit, with an on-form Hamilton aided by Ferrari’s aggressive strategy and aerodynamic upgrades that were applied to the SF-26.
Ferrari was in receipt of ADUO—the regulatory mechanism implemented for 2026 under new power unit regulations—and is therefore permitted two in-season developments.
The FIA’s ADUO results were controversial owing to the decision that Red Bull Powertrains had the best ICE, denying it updates, with Mercedes next up.
But Ferrari was anyway expecting to be four percent behind the best ICE under the ADUO recording measurements and has acted by bringing its first tweaks for the upcoming round at the Red Bull Ring.
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Ferrari’s Power Unit Technical Director Enrico Gualtieri.
“Since the beginning of the 2026 project, we have combined a continuous development approach with longer-term development programs, to fully exploit all available opportunities to increase the performance of our power unit,” said Ferrari’s Power Unit Technical Director Enrico Gualtieri. “These two streams run in parallel and often reinforce each other.
“The entire team at the factory is now working relentlessly to make the most of the additional opportunities provided by the ADUO mechanism, in full alignment with our intended development roadmap. The update we are bringing to Spielberg is a relatively minor one and it’s the result of the work completed in recent weeks to transfer improvements from our development program to the track.”
Gualtieri was at pains to stress that the update “will not, on its own, change the competitive order” and that “it is unrealistic to expect a single update to transform the overall picture.”
Mercedes remains 72 points clear in the Constructors’ Championship but unreliability issues have cost the team in recent grands prix.
George Russell retired from the lead in Canada while Kimi Antonelli was running in second in the closing laps in Barcelona when his car suddenly stopped.
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Lewis Hamilton (left) dukes it out with George Russell during the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix.
“Our Achilles heel so far has been reliability,” conceded Mercedes boss Toto Wolff. “We are not standing still in our efforts; we will bring a few updates to Austria this weekend with a focus on improving both performance and reliability.”
Several other teams are expected to introduce substantial chassis upgrades, including Red Bull and Cadillac, which will bring a new floor and sidepods as part of a major revision to the MAC-26.
This weekend’s round in Austria also brings a couple of additional complications for power unit manufacturers.
Alongside hotter-than-usual ambient temperatures, which are expected to nudge into the low 90s, the Red Bull Ring is the first circuit on the 2026 calendar at a noticeable altitude.
The Red Bull Ring sits approximately 2,300 feet (700 meters) above sea level, and at that altitude the air is thinner, meaning the turbo has to work harder to reach the same level of performance as at sea level.
“As the [MGU-H] component is no longer part of the 2026 regulations, we no longer have the MGU-H to assist the turbocharger,” said Honda’s Trackside General Manager Shintaro Orihara. “It may make it more challenging to operate both the turbocharger and the engine correctly at high altitude.”
U.K.-based Phillip Horton started covering Grands Prix while still at university and swiftly deemed that writing about Formula 1 and the behind-the-scenes machinations was much more engaging than reading centuries-old novels. Degree gained, he went on to cover the sport full-time from 2014 and is as intrigued and excited by the destinations Formula 1 visits during its lengthy annual world tour as the racing itself. Phillip joined Autoweek in 2021 and while he has just about learned to spell in American English he has yet to find anywhere in America that makes a proper cup of tea.