Stefano Domenicali became team principal of the Ferrari team under difficult circumstances. The Scuderia’s passionate fans had been forced to sit through several seasons of uncompetitiveness and were waiting for the turnaround to happen. Domenicali handled tricky team order situations, and steered the team back to the competitive end of the grid, but a poor start to the 2014 season saw the Italian hand in his resignation from the team principal role.

Biography

Born in Imola, Domenicali was always surrounded by motorsport, and often went to race weekends to help out wherever possible. He took the business studies route through University, but joined Ferrari as soon as he graduated, working on the admin side. He gradually became more involved with their motorsports efforts, and became a race director of the Ferrari-owned Mugello track.

In 1995 he moved to the sporting department, gradually making his way up the ranks to became Sporting Director in 2003. In 2007, Domenicali became a director of the F1 team, replacing Jean Todt both on the board, and as team principal the following year. Having dropped down the order after the glory days of Schumacher’s domination, there was a lot of work to do to keep Ferrari competitive.

Domenicali helped to turn the tide and guide Ferrari towards battling for championships once again, although they have not been World Champions since the more successful 2008. Stefano had to weather several Ferrari storms, including ongoing team orders issues, the circumstances surrounding Felipe Massa’s accident, and, in 2014, the return of Kimi Räikkönen to join Fernando Alonso as teammate.

However, after just three races of the 2014 season, Stefano announced his resignation as team principal for the Ferrari team. Citing the need to create a shake-up and turn the tide on their uncompetitive start to the year, Domenicali withdrew from the role with immediate effect.