Ferrari hires aerobatics commander

With the outfit having paid a heavy price in Abu Dhabi for a strategy mistake with Fernando Alonso that cost it the world title, it has undertaken a refocusing of its efforts over the winter.

And as well as a reshuffling of its engineering staff, which included Chris Dyer moving away from the F1 team, Ferrari has appointed former Frecce Tricolori commander Massimo Tammaro.

The move comes ahead of a likely increased reliance on quick decisions from the pit wall in 2011 to decide tyre strategies in a race.

Team principal Stefano Domenicali told Gazzetta dello Sport: "I'm passionate about planes and I knew Tammaro. Since he left Frecce Tricolori and wanted to pursue a different career, I thought interesting to have at our disposal his organisational knowledge and his military experience on communication codes."

Reflecting on Abu Dhabi, Domenicali said: "Yes, we threw away the championship. I even thought about resigning, but then rationality prevailed. That race ruined my winter and my health. At Abu Dhabi we lost through our faults, but in 2010 the best car was Red Bull's."

Domenicali also said that the possible return of Dyer to a role on the F1 team would rest firmly with the Australian.

"The fact that he is not in Gestione Sportiva anymore but is in the industrial department is not tied to that [the Abu Dhabi events], but is down to internal balances that had to be evaluated. Now Dyer works with the GTs; in the future he'll have to decide whether to stay there or to come back to racing."

Domenicali also played down talk about a bid to poach Adrian Newey away from Red Bull Racing.

"No. I see him very attached to his world in England and at Red Bull, but there's always talking and joking in the paddock," he said.