Verstappen surprised by FIA ranking Red Bull F1’s best ICE

Max Verstappen says Red Bull was surprised to discover the FIA ranked its internal combustion engine (ICE) as the strongest on the Formula 1 grid in 2026, thereby denying it upgrade opportunities.

A mechanism introduced this season called additional development and upgrade opportunities (ADUO) ranks the performance of each power unit manufacturer’s ICE, with the benchmark defined over the first five races of this year. Any manufacturer deemed to be more than 2% but less than 4% off the strongest ICE gets the chance to introduce one upgrade this season and another next season, while any over 4% adrift get two upgrades at each point.

Although the FIA has yet to publicly publish its rankings for the engines on the grid this year, RACER understands Red Bull has been judged to have the best ICE performance, with Mercedes over 2% behind and gaining one additional upgrade, while the remaining manufacturers – Ferrari, Audi and Honda – are all over 4% off and receive the maximum two upgrade opportunities.

“I think we were all a little bit surprised with that,” Verstappen said. “I guess that’s why we are talking to the FIA now to see what happened there and how they came to that conclusion.”

Verstappen says there is a bittersweet reaction to the ranking, given the impressive first power unit that Red Bull Ford Powertrains has produced this year.

“Of course maybe from the outside you should say, 'Yes, that's amazing’ but we just were surprised because we don't feel like we are the best," he said. “We're definitely not the worst out there and it's super impressive in such a short time frame what they have done. Of course we still have some reliability things but overall it's honestly nice to be a part of it and seeing the drive of the people and what they want to do.

“They're never satisfied; I'm also never satisfied, but they're equally as disappointed when things don't go right. So yes, in a way of course we are proud. We're just a bit confused with suddenly being portrayed as the best, because we don't feel like it.”

Separate to the ADUO conversation, on Wednesday the FIA confirmed an agreement has been reached for power unit changes in 2027 and '28, with a phased introduction to reach a 60/40 power split between internal combustion and electrical energy. Verstappen has been vocal about the latest power units and threatened to leave F1 if changes weren’t introduced, but welcomed the compromise.

“It was nice to see that changes are being made, of course already this year but also next year," he said. "Of course, I would have hoped that next year would have been what we get in ’28, but I also understand that sometimes there are politics involved with that. At least the changes that are coming are heading in the right direction, so I guess that's a good thing.”