Could the Blackburn Firebrand have mattered in 1942?

What do you think about the Blackburn Firebrand?

With its intended Napier Sabre engine and a timely development programme, it could have become a powerful Fleet Air Arm aircraft by 1942 or 1943.

The Firebrand was designed around the Napier Sabre, but the engine was redirected toward Royal Air Force requirements, forcing repeated redesign around alternatives such as the Bristol Centaurus. The original combination might have entered service early enough to strengthen British carrier aviation in the Mediterranean. The Channel Dash provides a counterfactual: how might an attack by Firebrands have differed from the historical Swordfish strike against Scharnhorst and Gneisenau? Even the throttle arrangements had been designed around the Sabre, making engine substitution an aircraft-integration problem rather than a simple swap. Engine allocation between services could affect procurement timing and which aircraft were available for operations.