Lewis Hamilton reveals Ferrari will get 'tokens' from FIA to catch Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton reveals Ferrari will get 'tokens' from FIA to catch Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton finished second in Monaco

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Monday 8 June 2026 15:45 Updated: 16:03

Lewis Hamilton has revealed after the Monaco Grand Prix that his Ferrari team will be given upgrade tools by the FIA in their bid to catch Mercedes.

Hamilton finished second at the Monaco Grand Prix, his second successive second-place finish.

It also means that the seven-time champion sits up in second in the drivers' championship, his highest position since the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

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However, Ferrari remain far behind Mercedes when it comes to performance, and Hamilton is a whopping 66 points behind the drivers' championship leader Kimi Antonelli after just six race weekends.

Part of that deficit is because of Ferrari's power unit just not having the power output of the new Mercedes power unit.

But Ferrari are set to receive a reprieve in that sense. The additional development and upgrade opportunities (ADUO) concept was brought in by the FIA at the start of the season, designed to help power unit manufacturers who have struggled to develop a reliable, fast engine during the 2026 regulation changes, giving them time to bring upgrades to their power units.

The first opportunity to do that arrives now, before further opportunities for struggling manufacturers after races 12 and 18.

It was unknown exactly who would receive ADUO in this first period, and who would receive how much time, with ADUO working on a sliding scale depending on how far behind the strongest power unit a manufacturer is.

Hamilton may just have provided us with some clues on that, however, before official FIA confirmation has come through.

Hamilton confirms Ferrari ADUO news

“I mean, we go back to, long straights [for Barcelona]," Hamilton told Sky Sports F1 after the race, before going on to confirm that Ferrari had qualified for ADUO. "I think the news came out either yesterday or today that Red Bull have the most powerful engine, Mercedes second and then we're behind, so we've got now these tokens to try and develop and close the gap.

“But that's like a eight to 10-month project, so it's not something we could just do next week, so we'll be pushing as hard as we can to see how we can close that out, but for next week I think hopefully we'll be able to add some components to the car to try and close the gap to them.

“But it's gonna be tough to beat them, and they're just on another level at the moment, which I'm really happy for them, you know, it's my old family whole team, and when they're the best, they're very, very hard for anyone to beat.”

How does ADUO work?

According to Article 4 of Appendix 4 of the new technical regulations, a manufacturer qualifies for the development period if their: "ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) Performance Index is at least two per cent but less than four per cent below the best-performing ICE."

They are then eligible for one additional homologation upgrade in 2026, and one additional homologation upgrade in the following season.

If their ICE Performance Index is 'at least four per cent below the best-performing ICE', a power unit manufacturer can then receive two additional homologation upgrades in 2026, and two additional homologation upgrades in 2027.

The amount of time power unit manufacturers get in the ADUO period varies. If they are between two and four per cent behind the top power unit, then they will get 70 operating hours, and this incrementally rises depending on how far behind the best power unit they are.

If an underperforming power unit is more than 10 per cent behind the best on the F1 grid, then the manufacturer will get a whopping 230 operating hours to work on and develop upgrades for their power unit.

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