As predicted in this column last week, heads would roll at Ferrari with the abysmal results so far in F1. Former world champions Alonso and Raikkonen finishing 9th and 10th in Bahrain is not acceptable. In front of Ferrari supremo Luca di Montezemolo that was enough to ensure some dynamic action.
The response to this has been Stefano Domenicali resigning as team principal of the F1 team and has already been replaced as team principal by Marco Mattiacci, the president and CEO of Ferrari North America.
Goodbye Stefano
Even with one of the strongest driver pairings in F1 with Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari has failed to get on the podium in the first three races of the season.
Ferrari has actually not won a title since 2007 and Domenicali, who has been in charge since 2008, said, “There are particular moments in all of our professional lives where you need the courage to take difficult and very painful decisions.
“It’s time to make an important change. As boss, I take the responsibility – as I always have – for the situation we are going through. This decision has been taken with the aim of doing something to shake things up.”
This is not the first time that Ferrari has been in the doldrums – look at the movie Rush where Niki Lauda expresses his opinion on his prancing horse! And it was Michael Schumacher who dragged Ferrari up after a winless period by bringing in Ross Brawn and Rory Byrne.
So who is next? Watch this space!
