“We were all a bit surprised in the team with that,” Max Verstappen admitted after a surprise assessment by the FIA revealed that Red Bull has the most powerful power unit in the garage.
The Red Bull Powertrains-Ford engine, which Max felt was lagging, was surprisingly deemed the benchmark internal combustion engine by the FIA.
The assessment came as part of the governing body’s Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities (ADUO) system, which evaluates manufacturers’ engine performance and grants extra development opportunities to those that fall sufficiently behind the benchmark.
The benchmark set by Red Bull’s engine outperformed the competition so much that it leaped ahead of even championship leaders Mercedes and Ferrari, which seemed unlikely.
This exact outcome is why Red Bull is puzzled. Mercedes has dominated this season, and Verstappen has endured reliability concerns, especially after the power unit failure in Monaco.
“I think we can be proud of the job we have done but it never felt like we were, let’s say, the best,” Verstappen explained. He added that currently, Red Bull was also having discussions with the FIA to determine how this was possible.
Online experts and even fans have suggested that this possible discrepancy could exist because the FIA judges based on internal combustion engine performance and not the whole power unit.
The improbability of the same is also visible in the race for the Constructors’ Championship this season, with Red Bull lagging. In fact, let’s take a look at the current standings.
Red Bull’s championship numbers tell a different story
The FIA’s assessment stands in sharp contrast to how Red Bull is performing on track in the opening six races of the season. The team stands an abysmal fourth in the Constructors’ Championship with 69 points.
The dominant force is Mercedes, which has six wins from six races and leads the standings with 244 points, with Ferrari second on 165 and McLaren third on 116.
Even their drivers are outperforming the Red Bull star. Before Verstappen comes in at 7th, both drivers from Mercedes, Ferrari, and McLaren are ahead of him.
Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli leads the Drivers’ Championship with 156 points. George Russell has added 88, while Max Verstappen has managed just 43 points.
Combined with setbacks such as the power-unit failure in Monaco, it was surely a surprise that Red Bull would lead the benchmark. After all, there exists little on-track team performance data to back that up.
