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Max Verstappen and Red Bull have been denied the chance to upgrade their power unit by the FIA, who confirm no teams will qualify for the second round of the Additional Upgrade and Development Opportunities (ADUO) initiative. ADUO aims to close the gap between competitors on the power unit by providing manufacturers extra chances to develop their engine, despite financial and technical tunnel restrictions. If an internal combustion engine falls a certain margin behind the established benchmark, then they will qualify for a minimum of one upgrade opportunity – but that has created a problem. As a part of the new Formula 1 regulations, the MGU-K (Kinetic) electrical battery accounts for 47% of the power unit but ADUO is only judged based on the internal combustion engine. And that fact caused controversy to erupt earlier in the 2026 F1 season when it was announced that Red Bull have the best internal combustion engine on the grid and would not be entitled to ADUO. That is despite Mercedes having the best power unit overall as a result of their impressive development of the electrical battery, meaning the strongest power unit secured an upgrade. More from the Dutch GP Catch up with Total Motorsport’s latest Dutch GP coverage, including Lando Norris’ dramatic victory at Zandvoort, the full race classification, Max Verstappen’s Lap 1 crash, and the latest on Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari future. Red Bull asked the FIA for clarification as to why the Silver Arrows qualified and they did not but ultimately stopped short of mounting any official challenges to the judgement of motorsport’s governing body. The season continued on but now the debate has resurfaced ahead of the Italian GP at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, where it has been confirmed once again that Red Bull will not qualify. “For the second period,” the FIA said. “No additional homologations were granted to any of the Power Unit Manufacturers. “Due to the confidential nature of this information, no further details on Power Unit performance index measurements will be communicated.” Are politics at play as Verstappen and Red Bull denied power unit upgrade by FIA? Still determined to have the best combustion engine on the grid between the Monaco GP and Dutch GP, Verstappen’s team have not unlocked the upgrade but fortunately for Milton Keynes, neither has anyone else. Toto Wolff’s team are currently considered to be between 2%-4% behind Red Bull, whilst Ferrari, Audi and Honda will each have two ADUO tokens as a result of being considered over four percent behind. That is perhaps a result of politics within the paddock as Mercedes and Ferrari both plan to bring upgrades to the Italian GP, one race after the conclusion of the second assessment period. Doing so means the team will now have to wait until Round 18 of the 2026 Formula 1 season, which will be the United States GP at the Circuit of the Americas from October 23-25. So in essence, Red Bull have been trapped by their rivals for doing a good job – meaning they cannot work on the main weakness of their power unit by focusing on the electrical battery. With the third assessment period concluding in the dying embers of the 23-race-long season, which could still be reduced to 21 races if the Qatar GP and Abu Dhabi GP weekends are cancelled, bringing an upgrade would likely bear little fruit. Thus, Red Bull may find themselves unable to develop their power unit until the start of the 2027 F1 season. If they do not qualify once again, they will have to wait until June that year – based on 2026. Such politics would likely go against the intention of the rules by the FIA and could, however, prompt the organisation to make some changes to the regulations in a bid to prevent gaming the system.