Former Ferrari engineer suggests April break gives the Prancing Horse time to ‘focus’

Former Ferrari engineer Rob Smedley believes the Prancing Horse can make good use of the four-week Formula 1 break before the Azerbaijan GP on April 30 by focusing on the development of the SF-23.

Continuing their weak start to the year, Ferrari went through a point-less race in Australia last week, which has brought them down further in the standings. However, since the Chinese Grand Prix got canceled (it was supposed to be held in mid-April), teams now have almost a month's gap until the next race in Azerbaijan takes place.

Rob Smedley believes that this break is a golden opportunity for Ferrari to upgrade and develop their car. He said (via PlanetF1):

"I think more than anything, it gives you time to focus because the organisation is just purely focused on development rather than operations [during a break]."

Smedley claimed that since there is no need for members of the team to be traveling, they can focus solely on development. He added:

"So you don’t have to get a huge chunk of your organisation on a plane and get them to go and do all that grand prix racing nonsense, you can just get them all really focused on development."

---

Ferrari's competitors could use the April break to develop equally well too

It is not just Ferrari who will be making use of this golden opportunity, all other teams on the grid will be trying to develop and remain competitive as well. Smedley stated:

"This is an opportunity not just for Ferrari but for all of the teams. [It] is an opportunity because when you’re right in the midst of racing, you sometimes can’t put your head up and it’s not always easy to see the obvious things that are in front of you, because you’re just headlong into delivering races and just trying to maximise those races."

The engineer added that during a race weekend, the entire team's attention is drawn to what goes on the track, whether their role requires that or not. But since there will be no races for most of April, teams will be able to focus on their development.

"That means that obviously, there’s a large chunk of your organisation that isn’t doing that, but they are drawn towards what’s going on at the racetrack. They will get involved in that to some extent, even though their job is back in the factory, whether it’s the design office or the wind tunnel."

Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso shared a similar statement regarding the development status of teams. He mentioned that in Baku, the majority of teams will be coming in with upgrades (referring to Red Bull and Mercedes), and since Aston Martin hasn't ever been where they are currently, performance-wise, it will be a challenge for them to develop.

If they can utilize the ongoing break in schedule effectively, Ferrari could have a chance at overcoming Aston Martin and Mercedes and making their way to the top of the grid.