On this day in 2014: Stefano Domenicali steps down as Ferrari boss

Stefano Domenicali resigned as team principal of Ferrari on this day in 2014 following a poor start to the Formula One season.

The Italian fell on his sword with the team he led struggling to compete with its rivals amid changes to regulations governing the sport.

Domenicali’s exit came in the wake of the Bahrain Grand Prix in which drivers Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen had finished ninth and 10th, respectively.

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso (second left), Felipe Massa (left) and team principal Stefano Domenicali pose alongside McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton after the 2010 Bahrain Grand Prix (David Davies/PA)

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In announcing his departure, 48-year-old Domenicali said: “There are special moments that come along in everyone’s professional life when one needs courage to take difficult and very agonizing decisions.

“It is time for a significant change. As the boss, I take responsibility, as I have always done, for our current situation.”

Domenicali had joined Ferrari as an administrator in 1991 before becoming team manager in 1996 and then sporting director six years later.

He succeeded Jean Todt at the head of the Formula One team in 2007 and was officially appointed team principal in 2008, winning the Constructors’ Championship at the end of his first season.

Alonso was twice pipped to the drivers’ championship under Domenicali (David Davies/PA)

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However, the drivers’ title was to elude Ferrari during the remainder of his reign, and indeed since with Raikkonen’s 2007 title representing the most recent success.

Felipe Massa went agonizingly close to depriving Lewis Hamilton of the world title in 2008 and Alonso saw Sebastian Vettel pip him in the final race in both 2010 and 2012.

Alonso also finished second behind the German in 2013, but he was a long way adrift and the Spaniard was widely considered to be out-performing the car he had been given.