Why The FIA Is Giving Mercedes Additional Engine Development

The FIA's latest engine assessment has created one of the strangest situations Formula 1 has seen in years.

Mercedes is currently winning races.

In fact, they have won every race of the 2026 season so far.

Between Kimi Antonelli and George Russell, Mercedes has won every F1 race in 2026

But, despite their very clear dominance… Mercedes has just qualified for additional engine development under Formula 1's new regulations.

At first glance, that sounds completely backwards.

Shouldn't the teams behind be the ones getting help?

The answer lies in what the FIA is actually measuring.

Mercedes isn't being measured against Ferrari

Or McLaren.

Or the championship standings.

Or race results.

Under Formula 1's Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities (ADUO) system, manufacturers are ONLY assessed against the benchmark Internal Combustion Engine, not any other aspect of the power unit. 

And according to the FIA's assessment, that benchmark currently belongs to Red Bull.

Mercedes has been judged to be more than 2% behind.

That means it qualifies for:

• One engine upgrade opportunity

• An additional $3 million development allowance

• Extra engine testing hours

Which creates an insane contradiction.

Mercedes is winning... but still qualifies for a “boost”

Why is Mercedes getting extra engine development opportunities even though they are clearly dominating?

The FIA's assessment suggests Mercedes has not built the strongest combustion engine, yet Mercedes appears to have built the strongest overall package.

That's because modern Formula 1 performance doesn't come from the combustion engine alone, so things like...

• Battery performance

• Energy recovery

• Energy deployment

• Software

• Hybrid efficiency

… All contribute to lap time.

Mercedes appears to be insanely strong in those areas.

Strong enough to win races despite not having the benchmark combustion engine.

Now, here's where it gets interesting

Mercedes is already producing the strongest overall results.

Now it receives additional opportunities to improve the one area where the FIA believes it is trailing Red Bull.

Does that mean Mercedes will dominate even more? We’ll have to find out…

An upgrade opportunity isn't free performance, and Mercedes still has to identify weaknesses in areas like design improvements

Then they still have to test them, manufacture them, and make them reliable. So it isn’t a guaranteed mega development boost, but the chance is there. 

The irony of ADUO

The system was designed to help manufacturers catch up if they are behind…

Instead, it has created a situation where one of the fastest teams on the grid is now being given extra tools to improve.

To understand why Formula 1 created a system that allows this to happen in the first place, you first need to understand ADUO and the lessons the FIA learned from Mercedes' dominance in 2014.