Former Ferrari engineer Chris Dyer weighing up F1 return

Dyer was moved away from his F1 trackside role onto its GT project in the wake of the Abu Dhabi title defeat last year, as Ferrari looked at a restructuring to help improve its fortunes.

But Dyer was not happy with what he was offered by Ferrari so decided to leave. He is currently on gardening leave while he sees out his contractual term, and speculation is already linking him with a possible switch to Mercedes GP, where he could renew his working partnership with Ross Brawn and Michael Schumacher, who he engineered for a long time.

Dyer, who returned to the F1 paddock at Monza this weekend for the first time since the end of last year, says he has enjoyed spending the last 10 months with his family, and that the decision to leave Ferrari came because he did not think he would be happy working in GTs.

"I was offered a position that I didn't consider interesting, so I replied 'no, thanks'," he told Gazzetta dello Sport. "I still live in Spezzano, near Maranello. At the moment I can't work for other teams anyway, and after all Italy has become my home. I've lived here for ten years."

Speaking about the Mercedes GP rumours, Dyer said: "There are many offers, but at the moment I don't want to talk about the future."

Dyer also suggested that he did not think Abu Dhabi was the huge disaster that some had suggested - even though the outcome cost Alonso his chance of the championship.

"I think I had taken worse decisions in other races," he said. "I've lived a difficult time, but these things happen in F1."