Stefano Domenicali falls on his sword

Ferrari is staring down the barrel of another failed season, where failure is anything other than championship success. The surly faces made by President Luca di Montezemolo in Bahrain were obviously seen by Stefano Domenicali and he has officially resigned from his role as Ferrari Team Principal.

Respected F1 journo Adam Cooper covered the news of Domenicali’s departure as it broke via twitter. He’s had this to say on his blog:

Stefano Domenicali has resigned as team principal of Ferrari in the wake of the disappointing start to the team’s 2014 season.

He will be replaced by high flying Ferrari road car executive Marco Mattiacci, who will be in China next weekend.

Mattiacci worked at Jaguar/Ford before joining Ferrari in 1999. He quickly rose up the ranks to become President and CEO of Ferrari Asia Pacific in June 2006, before taking the same role at Ferrari North America in May 2010. He is clearly highly regarded within the Ferrari camp.

[Source: Adam Cooper]

UPDATE: A statement from Domenicali can be read below.

Stefano Domenicali resigns as Director of the Gestione Sportiva

Maranello, 14 April – Stefano Domenicali has decided to resign from his position as Director of the Gestione Sportiva.

“There are special moments that come along in everyone’s professional life, when one needs courage to take difficult and very agonising decisions,” said Domenicali. “It is time for a significant change. As the boss, I take responsibility, as I have always done, for our current situation. This decision has been taken with the aim of doing something to shake things up and for the good of this group of people that I feel very close to.

With all my heart, I thank all the men and women in the team, the drivers and the partners for the wonderful relationship we have enjoyed over all these years. I hope that very soon, Ferrari will be back where it deserves to be. My final words of thanks go to our President, for having always supported me and to all our fans. I only regret that we have been unable to harvest what we worked so hard to sow in recent years.”

Ferrari thanks Stefano Domenicali

Maranello, 14 April 2014 – On receiving Stefano Domenicali’s resignation, Ferrari thanks him for the dedication he brought to his service to the company, in positions of ever increasing responsibility over the past 23 years. It offers Stefano Domenicali its most sincere best wishes for the future.