The FIA insists Formula 1’s new mechanism for ensuring power unit manufacturers do not fall too far behind their rivals is different to the ‘Balance of Performance’ used in other categories.
F1 power unit manufacturers will get rule breaks if their engines are 3% less powerful than the best under new regulations from 2026. The FIA has refined the details of the ‘Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities’ clause in the regulations as the arrival of F1’s new power units nears.
“The details of the procedure have been gradually refined with the manufacturers,” explained the FIA’s head of single-seater matters, Nikolas Tombazis, in an interview for V Motori. “It is important to be clear: this is not Balance of Performance.”
The FIA World Endurance Championship is among the series which uses BoP rules to directly equalise the performance of its teams. F1 figures including Max Verstappen and Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff have indicated their dislike of such rules.
Tombazis said BoP rules would not be appropriate for F1. “In Formula 1 it will never happen that a car receives an artificial boost in performance, nor that it is slowed by adding weight or reducing power,” he stressed. “That will never happen.”
The ADO rules are intended to indirectly close up the field by giving less competitive manufacturers more time to develop their power units. F1 has had similar regulations for aerodynamics since 2021.
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Tombazis said the rules are necessary to encourage new manufacturers to enter F1. “We have to be realistic,” he said. “Formula 1 is comparable to a series of consecutive marathons: if you are quicker than me in the first, you already start the second with an advantage. In this sport, a technological and performance advantage carries over into subsequent years: it is difficult for the first to become last, or for the last to become first, in a short space of time.
“Cost control is fundamental for sustainability, but it makes life even harder for those who are behind, because the limits prevent them from making unrestricted investments to catch up. In the past, recoveries such as Honda’s, which began very badly in 2015–2016, were possible thanks to enormous investment.
“The current regulations allow those who are behind only to develop and invest more within certain limits, in order to try to close the gap. It is therefore not a Balance of Performance, but rather a tool to allow newcomers at least the chance to reach the others, while knowing it will not be easy.”
Audi will join F1 as a power unit manufacturer next year, Honda will return and Ford will also enter in conjunction with Red Bull’s new engine project. Tombazis expects some manufacturers will lag behind their rivals at least to begin with.
“Not all the teams will be ready for 2026,” he said. “There will be a lot of novelty to manage, so some will not be at the required level, others will have misunderstood something at the beginning and will need to recover. It is predictable that in the early stages there will be significant fluctuations in performance.”
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How manufacturers qualify for ‘additional development and upgrade opportunities’
F1’s technical regulations define which manufacturers will benefit from ADO:
During the entire season’s competitions of each championship in the 2026-2030 period, the FIA will monitor the performance of Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) part of all the Power Units supplied by each PU Manufacturer to its customer F1 Teams.
For each ICE supplied by the PU Manufacturers, an average power will be calculated. The methodology to calculate this power can be found in the document FIA-F1-DOC-Cxxx.
Any PU Manufacturer whose ICE power is more than 3% below that of the highest ICE power recorded amongst all the PU Manufacturers will be granted Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities (“ADUO”) a week after the fifth competition in the year. No other ADUO will be granted later during the season.
PU manufacturers granted ADUO may implement further upgrades (as described in Article 3.2 of this appendix) and extend the usage of their PU Test Benches (as described in Article F5).
The FIA reserves the right to:
a. Revoke the ADUO at any point after the fifth competition in the year and the end of the championship season if the performance demonstrated by the PU Manufacturer after the first five competitions is inconsistent with that measured during the first five competitions.
b. Take measures, to its absolute discretion, if the resulting upgrades implemented by the PU manufacturer under the provisions of Article 3.2 of this appendix give that PU manufacturer an advantage that is deemed to be unfair in comparison to PU manufacturers who were not awarded any ADUO.
Such measures will be discussed in good faith with all PU Manufacturers.
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