Ferrari F1 star pours cold water on big upgrade with 'no game changer' verdict

Photo: © IMAGO

Ferrari F1

Ferrari star pours cold water on big upgrade with 'no game changer' verdict

And now they can't upgrade it until 2027...

Chris Deeley Editor

Experienced sports writer covering F1 and other motorsports since 2023

Wednesday 9 September 2026 08:15

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Haas star and Ferrari Driver Academy product Ollie Bearman has admitted that the Scuderia's second ADUO power unit update wasn't the game-changer that some were hoping for.

Bearman got his team's only new Ferrari engine for Sunday's Italian Grand Prix ahead of his team-mate Esteban Ocon, but the Ferrari-linked youngster didn't seem overly impressed with the extra Italian horses under his right foot.

The British driver finished the race at Monza a lap down in 16th place, with Ocon one place ahead of him as the last driver on the lead lap, with neither especially close to squeezing into Q3 on Saturday either.

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Ferrari's works team introduced the new engine package for both of their drivers at the team's home grand prix, but similarly appeared not to have obtained a big performance leap in terms of pure power. Bearman's verdict just adds to the bad news for Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc.

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Bearman: Haas upgrades more important than Ferrari engine boost

Bearman, who is viewed by Ferrari as their next driver on deck when Leclerc or Hamilton leave the team, claimed after the race that he felt that Haas' recent aero upgrades were much more impactful than a few more horsepower brought by the ADUO upgrade.

“It's a much smaller step than what the [aero] upgrade was, let's say,” he said.

“Of course, there's a bit more in this track, but in terms of a season average, it wouldn't have been enough to get us out of the fight for Q1, to be honest, if you put that engine on us in Zandvoort. I don't think it was a game changer.

Bearman says Ferrari's ADUO2 upgrade was no game changer.

“Of course, more power is always nice, but you've read the news about how much it is. It's definitely beneficial, but the biggest step was the [aero] upgrade, which was more than twice or three times the amount of power we got from the engine - which is testament to the team's hard work, and I'm really, really proud of them for that.”

The Madring, hosting the Spanish Grand Prix for the first time this weekend, is expected to profile out more like Zandvoort in terms of being a less power-dependent circuit, theoretically a boost to teams like Haas and Ferrari and their weaker engines.