The month of April at Ferrari was not just a break in the Formula 1 calendar, but an opportunity to help the team’s mechanics recover physical consistency and reset their routine, knowing that the season ahead would still be extremely long and demanding. At the same time, however, they were also prepared through targeted training sessions involving pit stop work, gym programmes and nutritional support.
The Miami Grand Prix is approaching, but Motorsport.com’s journey into what the Ferrari Formula 1 team did during the month of April continues, exploring how the Scuderia managed an unexpected gap in the championship schedule.
The logistical and technical aspects were already covered through contributions from Matteo Togninalli and Loïc Serra. This time, the focus shifts to another essential area of the Prancing Horse operation: the mechanics.
To explore this topic in more detail, Motorsport.com spoke with Diego Ioverno, Ferrari’s Sporting Director, who is responsible for sporting matters and maintaining relations with the FIA. The Bologna-born engineer provided a comprehensive overview of how the team prepared its personnel during the five-week break, ensuring they would arrive at the next round of the F1 World Championship in both shape and readiness.
“This month is a period of recovery in terms of physical routine because, not having to take flights and not having to change time zones, we tried to make sure everyone spent Saturdays and Sundays at home. We did not always succeed, but we tried to let everyone who travels rest. Indirectly, therefore, there is recovery, but no one was on holiday, no one was resting. They followed the pit stop training programme, and the gym programme is a moment where we can focus on quality work, including physical quality. These days there is also the nutritionist.”
“This role, the nutritionist, was introduced specifically for the mechanics’ personnel. The nutritionist is part of what we call the wellness project, which is the programme for the pit stop crew. This includes, in addition to the medical check-ups carried out across Ferrari, a gym training plan and a monthly assessment with the nutritionist and physiotherapists of physical and nutritional status. One of the things we have been trying to do for the past 6–7 years, fully aware that they are not athletes but mechanics, is to develop a culture of well-being, a culture of training, a culture of nutrition. This does not mean that to be part of the team you must be an athlete, but that you should still have a good physical condition.”
This is not just about April, because personnel well-being has become even more important since the F1 calendar expanded to 24 races. This year there are currently 22 races, although there is still the possibility of returning to the original number with Bahrain and Saudi Arabia potentially being placed in the final part of the season.
“Since the F1 seasons have become longer, it has become dramatically evident, and that is the reason why we introduced rotations. It already started to become clear in 2018–2019. COVID highlighted another very serious issue, which was competence. When you lost three, four, or five people because they could not be available for a race due to COVID, you ended up in difficulty, for example struggling more with pit stops. You were also in real difficulty assembling the cars and performing other operations. So, in 2021 we set ourselves the objective of increasing headcount, improving efficiency, and creating synergy with other activities. For example, we merged all chassis mechanics into a single department, and they all work on races, tests, and dyno sessions.”
“We decided to carry out significant recruitment and rejuvenate the team, and with mechanics you can solve a lot of problems that way. We are doing the same with engineers. There are positions where you cannot do that, typically including mine, where by the end of the year we are exhausted.”
“Aside from technical staff, who do not rotate, there are the people on the pit wall, the three engineers working closely with each of the two drivers — race engineer, performance engineer, driver performance engineer — as well as the power unit responsible, because the electronics manager rotates. For me, we are almost beyond the limit of what a single F1 season should contain. A weekend like this, with curfews, is essential to make this number of races sustainable. But we are already beyond the limit.”
Miami, like the Gilles Villeneuve circuit in Montreal, will host two Sprint weekends: a single free practice session followed immediately by Sprint Qualifying. The Sprint Race opens Saturday’s action before making way for standard qualifying and Sunday’s main Grand Prix. According to Diego Ioverno, this format is significantly more demanding for the team.
“The Sprint is much more stressful and involving for the team. If the Sprint is a boring one, just like the Sprint Qualifying, meaning without problems, then there is not a huge difference between the two weekends, apart from the fact that doing qualifying twice and two grid procedures is stressful. At the smallest issue, the Sprint becomes a drama because you always want to optimise everything and complete all sessions.”
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