Everyone in the Ferrari pit crew needs to worry after failure. The top brass look safe enough though as long as they can identify others for sacrifice, according to The Guardian newspaper.
Ferrari heads could roll after pits error denies Fernando Alonso title
The Italian team's tactical blunder in the season's final grand prix has led to a cabinet minister calling for an inquest Ferrari were in turmoil tonight as they counted the cost of a bungled attempt to win the Formula One drivers' championship in Abu Dhabi.
An Italian cabinet minister, Roberto Calderoli, called for the resignation of Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, the Ferrari president. And even the team's principal, Stefano Domenicali, who has been criticised in the past for being too nice, admitted that heads could roll following poor decision-making in the final race of the season at the Yas Marina circuit.
Fernando Alonso was the championship leader and favourite to win the title but poor tactics meant he finished a hugely disappointing seventh and lost out to Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel, who until that point had not led the table all season. The final, unedifying memory of Ferrari's chosen one, Alonso, in this year's championship is of him shaking an angry fist at Petrov, who had frustrated him for so long in Abu Dhabi.
Domenicali said yesterday: "A mistake was made, which may yet result in changes within the Ferrari hierarchy and which may yet take a while to forget."
The trouble for Ferrari is that wholesale changes have already been made as the team have struggled to match the success enjoyed when Michael Schumacher was their leading driver, winning five of his seven world championships for the Scuderia.
Domenicali did offer sympathy to Alonso, who went to Abu Dhabi at the head of the field, having won four of the previous eight races. The Spaniard had only to finish second to confirm his third world championship and, with Vettel winning, he could have come as low as fourth.
But his team made a crucial mistake when they decided to bring him into the pits when in fourth position. Ferrari were too interested in shadowing Red Bull's tactics for the race and it cost them dear because Alonso hit heavy traffic when he rejoined the race and then found it impossible to get past the Renault second-string driver, Vitaly Petrov.
Domenicali said: "I have to say I feel sorry for Fernando. He had a fantastic year, always pushed the people to work and never gave up."
A source close to Ferrari said last night: "There will be changes at Ferrari for sure. What happened on Sunday was a big, heavy mistake.
"But they won't be changing the car, Alonso, the president or Domenicali. Instead there will be changes to the inefficient pit area. It may not even be a sacking. But next season some important people will no longer hold the positions they do today."
Paul Weaver, guardian.co.uk, Nov 15.