Abu Dhabi: While Ferrari's large band of fans left the Yas Marina Circuit disappointed after favourite Fernando Alonso lost the 2010 Drivers Championship to Sebastian Vettel, back in Italy a minister has sought Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo's resignation citing bad strategy in the race.
Alonso also admitted that everything went wrong including the strategy while Team Principal Stefano Domenicali admitted to making wrong decisions in Sunday's final race.
"It's a shame to get to the end of the season and then lose the title at the final moment, but that's racing, that is sport. Everything went wrong today, from the start itself to the strategy. With hindsight, it would have been better not to pit so soon, but it's easy to say that when you have all the facts: however, it was definitely not an easy decision," Alonso said on Sunday after the race.
Wear rate ignored
Admitting to having made some mistakes, Domenicali said, "We made a wrong decision in terms of strategy for three reasons- we marked a rival with two cars, we were unduly concerned about the wear rate of the soft tyres and we did not take into consideration the difficulty of getting past other cars on the track. Now, there is no point in discussing the whys and wherefores of how we arrived at this choice: win or lose, we do everything together as a team."
Back in Italy, Roberto Calderoni, a minister in the Berlusconi cabinet, said: "Despite the ability of the excellent Alonso, Ferrari has managed to lose a championship already won."
"We are ashamed of this insane strategy and he [Luca di Montezemolo, Ferrari President] is guilty," Calderoni said. "He should get out of Maranello immediately so he does no further harm to Ferrari."
Luca di Montezemolo had earlier said, "Our morale is low after the conclusion to this season, but that's sport. We had everything in place to win the title with Fernando but today, things did not go our way."
The 7th placed Alonso, who seemed furious with Renault of Vitaly Petrov for not allowing him to pass and fight for the 4th position which would have given him his third world title, was positive about the future.
Need for improvement
"We have to face next year with the same will to win which has characterised this one and, something I learned very quickly, is also in the Ferrari blood," he said.
"We must improve the car and ensure that the mistakes that all of us — we drivers and the team — have made during the year, are not repeated."
