Ferrari confirm power unit upgrade for Austrian Grand Prix

Ferrari has confirmed it will bring an update to the Austrian Grand Prix, in relation to its power unit, but doesn’t believe it will change the pecking order.

Feature image credit: Ferrari Media Centre

As Formula 1 heads into the Austrian mountains for the upcoming race weekend at the Red Bull Ring, Ferrari has confirmed that it will use up one of its upgrades for the power unit.

Recently, the pecking order for the power units was ranked, and it was found that Red Bull Racing had the best power unit of the grid.

As such, it allows the rest of the power unit manufacturers, Mercedes, Ferrari, Audi and Honda, upgrades through the ADUO system: Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities.

Ferrari’s Power Unit Technical Director, Enrico Gualtieri, said:

“The entire team at the factory is now working relentlessly to make the most of the additional opportunities provided by the ADUO mechanism, in full alignment with our intended development roadmap.

“The update we are bringing to Spielberg is a relatively minor one, and it’s the result of the work completed in recent weeks to transfer improvements from our development programme to the track.

“It epitomises key principles of our sport: continuous improvement, reacting quickly, and deploying gains at the earliest opportunity.”

Austrian Grand Prix: Latest weather forecast as heatwave soars temperatures

The team will enter Austria on the back of their first win of the season, at the hands of Lewis Hamilton, who claimed his first victory in red at Barcelona.

It was the first race where the team looked finally competitive enough to challenge Mercedes, who had dominated the start of the season, collecting six race wins on the bounce.

Despite this, Ferrari doesn’t expect the single upgrade, on its own, in addition to homologations and development constraints, to make a difference in the 2026 pecking order.

“As mentioned, this update is not a major step, and it will not, on its own, change the competitive order,” continued Gualtieri. “What it does show is the attitude of the team and our technical partners: to push continuously and to make the most of every opportunity to improve our package.

“In a championship as competitive as this one, it is unrealistic to expect a single update to transform the overall picture, especially under the current homologation and development constraints.

“Performance is built progressively, not only through hardware changes, but also through how effectively you optimise the package race by race.”

The Austrian Grand Prix will get underway this weekend, with the first practice kicking off the action on Friday, June 26-28.

Audi encouraged by recent performance ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix

Read more Formula 1 here:

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• McLaren confirm Norris in attendance for 2026 Goodwood Festival of Speed
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• McLaren formally lodge appeal against Gasly penalties in Monaco
• ‘We hope its him’ says Wolff after Hamilton claims first Ferrari win

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Kamron Kent

Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.

I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.

Kamron Kent

Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.