- Ferrari completes first ADUO power unit upgrade ahead of Austrian Grand Prix debut.
- Steel-alloy cylinder head design pushes intake temperatures toward 110 degrees Celsius.
- A two-phase engine recovery plan targets 30 horsepower of combined gains by Monza.
Ferrari has completed the first upgrade to its 067/6 power unit under Formula 1’s Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities framework.
The Italian manufacturer is targeting the Austrian Grand Prix on 28 June for the debut of the updated specification, pending final FIA approval. A new Shell fuel compound will accompany the engine changes.
Ferrari sits between 4% and 6% behind the FIA’s benchmark power unit. That benchmark, to the surprise of many in the paddock, belongs to Red Bull Powertrains rather than Mercedes.
Ferrari’s deficit earns the team two upgrade opportunities in 2026, two more in 2027. They also get additional dyno hours and an increased financial allowance under the cost cap.
The 067/6 gets its first evolution, and Shell has a new fuel to match
According to Autoracer Italy, the internal combustion engine revisions should deliver around 4 to 5 horsepower. The new Shell fuel adds a further 2 to 3 horsepower on top of that.
At a compact circuit like the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Autoracer estimates that gain translates to roughly one-tenth of a second per lap.
The upgraded unit extends Ferrari’s existing design philosophy. The team uses a steel-alloy cylinder head that can withstand combustion temperatures no conventional aluminium cylinder head could handle.
That tolerance allows Ferrari to run intake air entering the intercooler at temperatures above 100 degrees Celsius, well beyond the 60 to 70 degrees typical of rival designs.
Reports from ScuderiaFans suggest the new specification could push that intake temperature toward 110 degrees. Ferrari is reportedly doubling down on its approach, not stepping back from it.
Shell developed the accompanying fuel at its Hamburg laboratory in collaboration with Ferrari’s engine department, led by Enrico Gualtieri.
Ferrari vice-chairman Piero Ferrari offered a pointed assessment of the team’s ambitions. “With the possibility to intervene on the engine, who knows if it won’t become easier for us to challenge the Silver Arrows on every type of track,” he told MotorcycleSports.
He added: “It’s not in Ferrari’s DNA to settle for stage victories.”
A bigger push is already in the pipeline
Austria is only the first step. Ferrari plans to introduce its third power unit of the season at Spielberg, with a second and heavier ADUO upgrade scheduled for Monza in September, when the team will bring its fourth engine of the year.
Reports suggest that the two phases together are expected to yield a combined gain of around 30 horsepower.
Ferrari’s total deficit to the benchmark stands at 40 to 45 horsepower. The team cannot recover that in one move, which is why it has split the programme into two deliberate phases. Austria is the validation step. Monza is where Gualtieri’s department intends to land the bigger blow.
The timing sits well for Ferrari in the championship picture. Lewis Hamilton took his first win in red at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix.
He was helped by a significant aerodynamic package that closed the gap to Mercedes in a single weekend. Hamilton now trails championship leader Kimi Antonelli by 41 points, after Antonelli retired from the Spanish race with a mechanical failure.
Charles Leclerc’s hydraulic and electronic problems in Barcelona, though, serve as a reminder that Ferrari still needs clean weekends to convert pace into points.
Higher combustion temperatures also bring genuine risks around cooling, reliability and correlation between the dyno and the track. The technical direction is bold, and bold directions carry consequences if something does not work.
McLaren driver Lando Norris offered a view from outside the Ferrari camp that framed the stakes plainly. He suggested that Ferrari would be dominating Formula 1 with a competitive engine and could “embarrass everyone.“
Austria will begin to show whether Maranello can close the gap between that assessment and the results on the timing sheet.
