Red Bull has pushed back against any idea that it has the benchmark Formula 1 engine, but admits the FIA has a “not nice job” in assessing a performance ranking for the grid.
F1 manufacturers are expected to be told over the next month – most likely between the Canadian and Monaco Grands Prix – which of them will be granted extra upgrade opportunities for this season and beyond.
The situation, and especially the impact it could have in shaking up the competitive order, has triggered a lot of intrigue from car makers about how things will be decided.
There have been suspicions of gamesmanship in play, with manufacturers potentially not showing their true hand, as well as debate over whether design choices like turbo size should have an influence on the final power output verdict.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff also spoke out earlier this week, claiming that the process – known as ADUO (Additional Design and Upgrade Opportunities) should only be available to struggling Honda, as everyone else is close together in performance terms.
Red Bull team boss Laurent Mekies is aware of some lobbying games in play from rivals to big up his own engine division.
He thinks the reality, however, is that Mercedes is well ahead but wants to play down its advantage.
“The game about putting the classification, we heard it since Bahrain, and we try not to enter it,” he told selected media during a visit to Red Bull Powertrains this week. “We recognise it's a difficult job. We simply tell you what we see.
“What we see is certainly Mercedes, a long way ahead of most of us. And yes, you're right, one guy [Honda] particularly behind.
“The other guys are probably quite close to us, Ferrari and Audi, and fair enough, Honda is probably struggling a bit more.
"To extract the right combustion engine performance in a fair way across the teams is very difficult. I think overall results are probably giving you the best, the most fair picture, of where everybody is at.”
While there have been suggestions from the paddock that analysis shows the Red Bull’s internal combustion engine is closely matched to Mercedes – if not even ahead – Mekies says their own data does not back that up.
Speaking about the gap to Mercedes, he said: “Three-tenths is where we put it internally.”
And he was clear that the biggest part of that deficit was in the ICE element, which is what ADUO rankings will be based upon.
“It is very difficult to see the differences,” he said. “I think we more so tend to attribute the difference that we just talked about to ICE, on the basis the electrical power is capped in terms of power.
“In terms of sizeable differences, like lap times, substantial lap time differences, and you are talking tenths, it's mainly driven by ICE.”
Not a nice job
Mekies is well aware, however, of the complexities in play when it comes to the FIA being able to make a proper judgement on how the performance of each power unit stacks up.
While he does not think anyone other than Mercedes would be tempted to play games and hide their potential, there are some decisions to be made about how design choices like turbo size or exhaust wings contribute to the final power figure.
“I'd like to believe that we try to stay out of that game,” he said about people hiding their pace. “And hence, in the winter test, we simply told you where we felt we were.
“At this second, the objective difficulties of evaluating who is where, including for the FIA, is high - is very high.
“The objective complexity of trying to get it right is big, for reasons like the ICE [versus] battery, and fundamental choices: small turbo, big turbo, exhaust blowing, no exhaust blowing. So back pressure, no back pressure. It's not a nice job to have to do that.”
Asked if he felt some would be hiding potential to boost chances of ADUO, Mekies said: “I don't believe so. I mean, okay, now Mercedes has such a sizeable advantage that they may be tempted, fair enough, but everybody else has no choice.
“Everybody else is fighting with their place for the points. But with different architecture, where combustion engine power might be very difficult to evaluate on a fair basis against other guys for all of these reasons.”
No early-season upgrade
While the granting of ADUO, which will most likely come into play ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix, in theory allows manufacturers to introduce major upgrades immediately, Mekies does not see Red Bull having the potential to go down that route.
He thinks that slotting in the allocation of the four power units allowed for this season means that it is more likely Red Bull will introduce some stepped changes – with a bigger reset only coming for 2027.
“As much as theoretically you will have the right to do it the race immediately after the verdict, are we ready to do so? Probably not, because you still need to deal with four engines in the season.
“The regulations force you to pick your moment. So you will have to try to group them and to make them into sizeable enough [steps].
“Realistically, I don't think you will see it in the first part of the season, at least for us. But certainly in the second part of season, you will try to shoot before having the '27 window, where you can, anyway, upgrade as well.”
Red Bull ghost has gone
Although Mekies acknowledges a performance gap between his engine and Mercedes, he says that Red Bull Powertrains has started off much better than anticipated, with where it has come into its new engine-building adventure.
And he says best of all, Red Bull Powertrains’ form has got rid of a “ghost” that the team could have faced some challenging years if it had been properly on the back foot.
“It has clearly exceeded expectations, very clearly, like we were gearing up for a much further away starting point,” he said.
“Even if it's a competitive business, and even two tenths makes a big difference compared to the best guys out there, it's something that could have put the project at big risk for two or three years. Now, the ghost of the power unit has disappeared.
"We have our own issues. We need to get these tenths back. We need to fix what we need to fix with the car. This we know how to do it. It's going to happen, not in Miami, but it's going to happen.”
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