Toto Wolff has expressed reservations about potential “gamesmanship” by rival Formula 1 power unit manufacturers who may try to use ADUO upgrades to gain a competitive advantage.

The ADUO, or Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities, process was added to the regulations last October as a sort of a safety net to allow manufacturers who lagged behind in the early stages of the new rule set a chance to catch up, after careful study of the relevant data.

The FIA noted that the intention as “to provide greater development opportunities for PU manufacturers who find themselves significantly behind their competition in terms of performance,” with the first round of changes to happen after race six, which following the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian cancellations is now the Monaco GP.

Further reviews are due after races 12 and 18.

The three main elements of potential help are additional possibilities to change the homologation of the PU, cost cap relief, and dyno development hours.

While the original aim was to help anyone who was clearly struggling – with Honda currently the most obvious candidate – even Ferrari has been lobbying for an ADUO break.

The team has shown itself capable of running at the front and has pushed Mercedes hard, but it understood to believe that the data indicates it is eligible for some extra help.

Wolff made it clear that any benefits handed to a manufacturer should not give them a chance to move up the order.

“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,” he said on Monday.

“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 and 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 FAA acts upon an ADUO. And of course, the teams will have their performance pictures.

“And as it seems for me, there's one engine manufacturer that has a problem, and we need to help, and then all the others are pretty much in the same ballpark.

“So I would be very surprised actually and disappointed if ADUO decisions that were done would come up with any interferences into the competitive pecking order as it stands at the moment.”

Asked if he was worried that Ferrari could gain an advantage and potentially get ahead he said: “I wouldn't call it worried. I think we are all monitoring how decisions are being made. And we have precise data from our own analytics of where we see engine performance of our competitors and ourselves.

“In that respect, I think the FIA is looking at the same data, and the FIA certainly I would very much hope continue to see themselves as protecting the integrity of the sport, because you don't want to allow an ADUO to a team that suddenly leapfrogs someone.

“The ADUO was always meant as a catch-up mechanism, and not as a leapfrog mechanism.”