The ADUO mechanism means that power units will be evaluated after the sixth, 12th and 18th grands prix of the season \u2013 namely Miami in May, Spa-Francorchamps in July and Singapore in October for 2026. Each time, manufacturers which are between 2% and 4% down on the best engine\u2019s power will be allowed an additional upgrade, while those who are more than 4% down will get two.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would personally love just to get rid of homologation, have a gloves-off fight, that’s what I’d really like \u2013 but we are where we are, we have a cost cap and we have dyno hours limits, so I think there’s enough limits in place without this,\u201d Hodgkinson commented as Red Bull unveiled its 2026 car livery.<\/p>\n
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Regardless of the British engineer\u2019s opinion on whether ADUO should exist in itself, he also believes a number of factors will make it hard to level the playing field anyway \u2013 including the lead time for new parts.<\/p>\n
\u201cDoes it sufficiently reward the people that get it right? I think so,\u201d Hodgkinson added. \u201cBecause the bit that I don’t think is fully understood actually amongst the rule makers is, like, the gestation time of an idea in power units is much longer than it is in chassis.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo if I need to make a change firstly I’ve not just got two cars to update, I’ve got a whole fleet of engines in the pool, so I could have 12 power units that I need to update, and so that takes time.<\/p>\n
![\"Ben](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/max-verstappen-laurent-mekies-.jpg\")
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Ben Hodgkinson, Max Verstappen, Laurent Mekies at Red Bull Powertrains-Ford<\/p>\n
Photo by: Red Bull Racing<\/p>\n
\u201cBut also, because we’re homologated you can’t really take a flyer on something that isn’t well proven, because you could be signing up to a world of pain. So we’ve got a minimum number of durability that we’d want to achieve on our new part and our new idea.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd our parts normally are very, very high-precision metal bits that just take time to manufacture, so we can have 12-week manufacturing time on some bits. And then it will take similar length of time to prove it all out, and then a similar length of time to get it all furnished in the race pool.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hodgkinson therefore doesn\u2019t expect ADUO to be a game-changer if some manufacturers do get the upper hand on others \u2013 which might be the case as Mercedes and Red Bull are believed to have found a loophole regarding the compression ratio of the internal combustion engine.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI think that if a team has an advantage on the power unit in race one it’s going to take some time before anyone else can catch up,\u201d he added. \u201cA way to peg them back is kind of what’s necessary, which the ADUO does offer in some respects, but I think after six races it’s assessed so technically the seventh you can introduce the update.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that it’s quite challenging to come up with an update in a couple of weeks \u2013 if I had 20 kilowatts to bolt on the engine right now, I’d do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
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