ADUO tweaks give struggling Honda a chance to spend more on F1 development
Honda has been granted additional wriggle room to recover it's Formula 1 campaign
The FIA’s new Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities [ADUO] system has been tweaked to give struggling Honda a greater chance of improving its internal combustion engine [ICE] and closing the gap to Formula 1 rivals.
In essence, the performance deficit thresholds have been tweaked so that Honda can invest more funds in development, as well as make use of additional dyno time.
The changes were officially added to the regulations on May 7 after extensive debate between the FIA and the power unit manufacturers.
On the basis that Honda currently has a performance deficit of more than 10% to those at the front, any manufacturer in that position can now spend an extra $11.0m on development, whereas previously, the relevant figure was only $8.0m.
In addition, there is also a one-off extra allowance of a further $8.0m only for the inaugural season of the new regulations for anyone below the 10% deficit threshold.
In other words, after ADUO is officially implemented, and assuming it formally meets the 10% plus performance deficit requirement, Honda will have a total extra allowance of $19.0m to spend on development, whereas before the current changes, it would only have had $8.0m extra.
Within the rules, the financial numbers are officially defined as a “downward adjustment,” in other words, they are subtracted from the total annual spend to leave the manufacturer concerned still under the originally defined cost cap.
Honda won’t be the only manufacturer to have more to spend, as others with a smaller deficit are set to benefit. As per the original rules, the scale is as follows: 2-4% off, $3.0m; 4-6% off, $4.65m; 6-8% off, $6.35m; 8-10%, $8.0m.
Additionally, manufacturers with a performance deficit of more than 10% are also being given more dyno time, or what is officially known in the FIA’s new Operational Regulations as PUTB [power unit test benches] Occupancy. The allowance that Honda can take advantage of has risen by 40 hours.
In an extra note now added to the regulations, the FIA has given itself some leeway to adjust the system after the first round of ADUO allowances, saying that “the proposed 2% threshold and subsequent resolution of the ICE performance index will be validated or adjusted after conclusion of the ongoing activities between PU manufacturers and F1 teams related to the on-track ICE performance measurement.”
In another significant change, the FIA has tweaked the ADUO periods to take account of the loss of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian GPs, adding a line to the regulations that says that “these ADUO periods may be adjusted by the FIA in the event of any significant change to the competition calendar.”
Originally, the first period covered rounds 1-6, ending in Miami, but with two races missing, round six became Monaco on June 7, thus delaying by two weeks the chance to take advantage of upgrades. By way of a compromise, the initial period is now rounds 1-5, ending in Montreal.
Similarly, the second period was supposed to end with round 12, which would have been Spa in July. The loss of the two Middle East races would have moved that until Zandvoort, after the summer break.
Thus, the second period has now been adjusted to end with round 11 in Hungary, the last race before the summer break.
The final period still runs to round 18, which was to have been Austin, but is now Interlagos two weeks later.
Some manufacturers have been keen to ensure that ADUO is not gamed by rivals who use it to leapfrog rather than catch up, which, in essence, is why the changes only give an extra helping hand to anyone who is now more than 10% adrift, and thus only Honda can benefit.
“The principle of the ADUO was to allow teams that were on the back foot in terms of the power unit to catch up, but not to leapfrog,” Toto Wolff said recently.
“And it needs to be very clear that whatever decisions are being made, whatever whichever team is granted ADUO, that any such decision may have a big impact on the performance picture and on the championship, if not done with absolute precision, clarity and transparency.
“It needs to be clear that gamesmanship hasn’t got any place here, but it needs to be with the right spirit here that the FIA acts upon an ADUO.”
Adam Cooper attended his first F1 race at Brands Hatch as a 10-year-old fan in 1976. He became a freelance journalist for Autosport magazine in 1985 while still at university, initially covering everything from club racing to the FIA World Sportscar Championship.
