{"id":47898,"date":"2026-04-09T11:35:05","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T06:05:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/?p=47898"},"modified":"2026-04-09T11:35:05","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T06:05:05","slug":"mercedes-driver-kimi-antonelli-admits-ferrari-set-to-gain-major-boost-from-new-aduo-rule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/formula-1\/mercedes-driver-kimi-antonelli-admits-ferrari-set-to-gain-major-boost-from-new-aduo-rule\/","title":{"rendered":"Mercedes Driver Kimi Antonelli admits Ferrari set to gain major boost from new ADUO rule"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli<\/strong> has openly admitted that Ferrari is set to gain a major boost<\/strong> in the 2026 Formula 1 season thanks to the new Additional Development and Update Opportunities (ADUO) system.<\/p>\n

The 19-year-old Italian, who currently leads the drivers\u2019 championship after winning two of the first three races for Mercedes, believes the new regulation will help Ferrari close the gap on his team.<\/p>\n

In a candid interview with Sky Sport Italy, Antonelli acknowledged Ferrari\u2019s potential, saying: \u201cI know there will be major changes. For example, the ADUO that has been granted to Ferrari, which will allow them to develop the engine, they will definitely get much closer because their car is already strong. If they manage to improve the engine as well, they\u2019ll close the gap even more.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ADUO rule is designed to prevent one-team dominance<\/strong> by giving extra development tokens to manufacturers whose power units are behind the benchmark. Ferrari is expected to receive this assistance, particularly in power unit performance, where they are believed to trail Mercedes in certain areas.<\/p>\n

Despite his rival\u2019s admission, Antonelli remains focused on his own performance. \u201cI\u2019m not too worried<\/strong>,\u201d he added, \u201cbut I\u2019m aware that the other teams will catch up sooner or later.\u201d He also highlighted that Mercedes will bring important updates of their own and praised the strong dynamic within his team.<\/p>\n

Ferrari\u2019s Opportunity<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ferrari\u2019s chassis has already shown strong race pace this season. With the extra engine development allowed under ADUO, the Scuderia could become a much more consistent threat. Team principal Fred Vasseur is likely to push hard to maximise this opportunity, with significant aerodynamic upgrades also planned in the coming races.<\/p>\n

What It Means for the 2026 Season<\/b><\/p>\n

Antonelli\u2019s honest assessment has added extra intrigue to the title battle. While Mercedes has set the early benchmark, the young Mercedes driver\u2019s comments show respect for Ferrari\u2019s package and the impact of the new balancing rule.<\/p>\n

As the season heads towards Miami and beyond, all eyes will be on whether Ferrari can convert this major boost into genuine wins. For now, championship leader Kimi Antonelli is staying calm but he knows the Maranello squad is about to get stronger.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli has openly admitted that Ferrari is set to gain a major boost in the 2026 Formula\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":502,"featured_media":47900,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[5164,1372,402,404,5165,4057],"class_list":["post-47898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-formula-1","tag-aduo","tag-ferrari","tag-formula-1","tag-mercedes","tag-new-rule","tag-top-stories"],"reading_time":"2 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/502"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47898"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47898\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47901,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47898\/revisions\/47901"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}