Ferrari’s ADUO hope grows as Mercedes gap holds

Ferrari is preparing another SF-26 update for Barcelona while waiting for the FIA to decide its ADUO eligibility, with the team’s 2026 recovery increasingly hinging on power-unit help rather than another aerodynamic step.

That has become the central issue after five rounds of the season. Mercedes leads the constructors’ championship by 72 points from Ferrari and by 113 from McLaren, and the W17 has emerged as the benchmark package. Ferrari’s own estimate, according to AutoRacer, is that it is about 0.5 seconds behind Mercedes, a gap that could make it eligible for power-unit development support once the FIA publishes its first engine performance ranking.

Ferrari’s recent evidence points in the same direction. Its first major update of the year arrived in Miami with changes to the front, floor and rear, including the “asa macarena” rear wing, but the gains fell short of expectations because, as the report put it, the engine “still is what makes the difference.” The next package, expected in Barcelona, is set to focus mainly on a new front-wing concept and is projected to be worth 0.2 seconds, useful but not enough to erase the core deficit on its own.

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari driver, made the problem plain after taking second in Canada, his best result since joining Maranello. “If you take away the power deficit, we are fighting with those at the front,” Hamilton said in a press conference. “But as of today that is not the case: I can stay with them and match their pace in the corners, but I can’t push any further on the throttle. You see them gain on the straights and you get them back under braking, but then they pull away again on the straight. It is really difficult, we are very far behind. I hope the ADUO can allow us to improve performance a bit so we can fight them. But Monaco should be fun.”

Hamilton’s point is reinforced by a rival who sees Ferrari’s package from the outside. Andrea Kimi Antonelli said at the Trofeo Bandini handover that Ferrari already looks strong on the chassis side and could become a much bigger threat if it gets an engine step through development. “Ferrari certainly seems like one of them,” Antonelli said of the manufacturers likely to receive ADUO help. “If they manage to develop the engine, they will get closer, because at chassis level they are in a good place too.”

That is also why Monaco offers only partial relief. Hamilton called it “the only track where power is not fundamental” and said Ferrari could be “really strong” there because the challenge is almost entirely about chassis performance. His run to second in Canada, where AutoRacer reported he beat Max Verstappen in the battle for that position, has strengthened that view by showing Ferrari can stay competitive when balance and cornering performance matter most.

The broader fight, though, still points back to the FIA ruling. Barcelona may bring another small step, and Monaco may hide some of Ferrari’s weakness, but if the SF-26 is to move from occasional threat to a sustained challenger against Mercedes, the decisive change is more likely to come from the engine side than the next bodywork package.