Mercedes has significantly evolved its 2026 F1 energy management since pre-season testing and the opening Australian Grand Prix, despite power unit homologation largely preventing conventional hardware development. Hywel Thomas says the near-even division between the internal combustion engine and the electrical system has shifted an increasingly important share of lap-time development towards software, calibration and operating strategy.
“The starting point is that every manufacturer has a homologated power unit, which means there is no opportunity to develop hardware during the season. However, with these regulations and the almost 50:50 split between the combustion engine and the ERS, energy management has become a much more significant factor in lap time,” explained Hywel Thomas, managing director of Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains.
Mercedes F1 energy management has changed since Melbourne
The ability to extract more performance from the same homologated hardware has consequently become one of the defining challenges of Formula 1’s new technical cycle. Although the fundamental components are fixed, manufacturers can continue refining how their power units produce, store and deploy energy around a lap.
“This creates opportunities through software, calibration and operating strategy, rather than hardware changes,” Hywel Thomas continued. “We can continue developing these areas throughout the season, and we have done so.”
According to Hywel Thomas, Mercedes’ understanding has expanded considerably since the opening months of the championship as both the manufacturer and its teams have accumulated more data and experience with the new generation of power units.
“The sophistication of our energy management today is significantly different from what it was during testing in Bahrain or even the opening race in Australia. This work continues constantly, and tangible performance improvements can be seen.”
How the F1 ADUO power unit system works
Hywel Thomas also explained the Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities mechanism, better known as ADUO. Unlike the normal software and calibration work permitted throughout the season, F1’s ADUO system is intended to provide additional development freedom to manufacturers whose power units fall sufficiently far behind the leading benchmark.
“The ADUO mechanism is slightly different. It is designed primarily as a safety net. The FIA monitors power unit performance using sensors on the cars and assesses the manufacturers against a reference level. If a manufacturer falls below a specified threshold, it is granted additional dyno time, an increased budget and the opportunity to introduce hardware developments.”
The objective is to prevent a manufacturer from being locked into an uncompetitive position by the homologation rules, particularly if a fundamental weakness cannot be addressed through software or operational changes alone.
“The purpose is to prevent a manufacturer from becoming trapped in a significant performance deficit for an entire season,” Hywel Thomas said. “If someone has genuinely overlooked something in the regulations, it offers them a route to recover. Although it is measured against combustion-engine performance, the development opportunity can be used more broadly once it has been granted. It is a sensible mechanism that helps maintain competitiveness.”
The system has already become an important factor in the wider power unit development battle, including Ferrari’s planned Monza power boost during the second half of the season.
Does ADUO measure the complete power unit picture?
The way ADUO performance is assessed could nevertheless represent a limitation of the mechanism. The hierarchy is established by measuring the output of the internal combustion engine, rather than the complete power unit.
That measurement does not fully account for the electrical side of the package, even though the ERS contributes approximately 50 per cent of the power unit’s output under the 2026 regulations. As a result, an assessment based exclusively on combustion-engine performance may not provide a complete picture of each manufacturer’s overall competitiveness.
Mercedes HPP sees customer teams as a learning opportunity
Mercedes HPP’s workload is considerable because, in addition to supporting the works team, it must also assist four customer teams. Managing such a large operation can create additional complexity, particularly when the teams are seeking to optimise energy deployment for cars with different aerodynamic and mechanical characteristics.
Hywel Thomas does not view that responsibility solely as a disadvantage. Mercedes has extensive experience of supplying multiple teams, while the quantity of data generated can also accelerate its understanding of the power unit. The relationship has nevertheless required close management during the new regulatory cycle, with Mercedes previously addressing concerns from its power unit customers.
“We have supplied several teams for a long time, so it is something we are accustomed to,” Hywel Thomas explained. “In many respects, it also gives us additional learning opportunities.”
Mercedes did not expect such a dominant start in Melbourne
Mercedes began the season with a one-two finish at the Australian Grand Prix. It was a result many observers considered possible following the indications provided by the winter and Bahrain testing, but even Mercedes did not expect to begin the campaign with such a commanding performance.
“It is easy to imagine that things could go that well because we have achieved similar success in the past,” Hywel Thomas said. “But it would have been naive to assume that we would arrive and dominate. The pre-season testing data suggested that we could be competitive, but not that we would be as strong as we were in Melbourne.”
The uncertainty was amplified by the difficulty of interpreting rival programmes during the development process and pre-season testing, when fuel loads, engine modes and individual testing objectives are not fully known.
“During the development phase, you never really know what your opponents are doing. Even during testing, you make informed assumptions rather than working with complete information. Therefore, when the first race arrives, there is always a degree of uncertainty. Seeing everything come together successfully was a fantastic feeling.”
How Mercedes prepared for the 2026 F1 regulations
Hywel Thomas also highlighted the scale of the work required to prepare for a new technical era. The process begins even before the final regulations exist, with manufacturers helping the FIA shape the framework while simultaneously attempting to predict its engineering consequences.
“Even before the regulations exist, you are already involved in helping to define them alongside the FIA and the other manufacturers. That process is rarely straightforward because it involves multiple stakeholders, each with different priorities. There was also a strong desire to attract new manufacturers to Formula 1, which made the situation even more complicated. While those discussions are still taking place, you are already trying to predict how the regulations might evolve and what the engineering implications could be.”
Once the rules have been finalised, each manufacturer must determine which areas offer the greatest potential lap-time return. The cost cap makes those choices particularly important because money, personnel and development time cannot be spent without considering the opportunity being sacrificed elsewhere. That same discipline is reflected in Mercedes’ revised W17 development programme during the current championship.
“Once the rules have been defined, the first task is to understand where the lap time will come from. Resources are limited, and you only have a certain amount available. The challenge is deciding where to invest them. With the introduction of the cost cap, those decisions have become even more important. Every hour, every person and every euro must be directed towards performance.”
Despite the complexity of a modern Formula 1 power unit, the earliest stages of the development process can rely on relatively simple analytical tools to determine where the most valuable opportunities may exist.
“In the initial stages, much of the work is surprisingly simple. You use spreadsheets, simulations and basic models to identify the biggest opportunities and establish where the team’s resources should be focused. That is where our development journey began.”
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