Serra plays down impact of F1 hiatus on Ferrari upgrades

Ferrari has played down suggestions that Formula 1’s unexpected April hiatus offers teams a golden opportunity to fast-track upgrades, with chassis technical director Loic Serra insisting the Scuderia’s approach remains firmly unchanged.

The sport is currently in a rare five-week pause following the cancellation of races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia due to events in the Middel East, leaving teams without track action until next week’s Miami Grand Prix.

While some have speculated that teams could exploit the downtime to push more aggressive development, Ferrari sees no such advantage.

For Serra, the idea that a short break could reshape months of engineering work simply doesn’t hold.

“Your development plan is not happening in one week or one month, it's something you have for quite a long time,” he told Motorsport.com.

"We planned a long time ago, so basically you stick to your development plan. So, you're not really affected by the fact that we are missing a race or two.”

He was equally dismissive of suggestions that teams might use the gap to experiment more boldly.

“Not really. Effectively you have a development plan, so you stick to your development plan. So, there is no real notion of more aggressive, more experimental, it's not that,” he said.

“It's more like you plan for development, but then there is the planning and there is what you find. But in no way this modifies what you are finding, because effectively not racing doesn't really modify what you are finding or not at the factory. So, it doesn't really change your approach.”

Questioning rivals’ upgrade strategies

As some teams prepare to introduce rapid-fire updates across the upcoming North American races in Miami and Montreal, Serra expressed skepticism—particularly given the cost implications.

“If you think about development being non-linear… I am not sure I understand that logic, because effectively the consequences on the cost side are quite important,” Serra said.

“So, if you bring parts in Miami and bring another step in Canada – depends on how big the developments are – if they are small development, incremental development I understand.

“Not necessarily the notion of packages, but the notion of more incremental development, and that would make a complete sense.”

Ferrari itself is expected to arrive in Miami with a significant upgrade to its SF-26, but even that fits within a carefully mapped trajectory rather than a reactive push.

“When you think about the SF-26, we started the development of the car [at the] beginning of 2025, and then you spend a year and more to develop it without testing anything with it, testing the car,” Serra added.

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“Then what you learned are the results of winter time, virtual development, so you bring a car that you haven't run [to winter testing]. So, if you think about this and put in context the fact that you're missing two races, it's small B I would say.

“So, effectively, the more you run, the more you learn, and that's true for everybody. But then telling that this is compromising, or this would compromise the way you approach your development, or you put the development more or less at risk, I don't think so.”

In Ferrari’s view, the calendar may have paused – but development never really does.

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