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Ferrari
team principal Stefano Domenicali considered quitting after a strategy
error in the final grand prix of last year cost Fernando Alonso the
Formula One championship.

The Spaniard went
into the Abu Dhabi season-ender in the lead in the standings but an
early pit-stop backfired, leaving him to finish the race seventh while
Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel won to take the crown.

“I asked myself if
it was right or not to stay. It seemed a reflection I had to do, a
responsible one. I’m not attached to the hot seat,” Domenicali told La
Repubblica on Tuesday.

“However, I reached
the conclusion that to resign would have been an error.” He said he had
not feared the sack but did not sleep for two days after the race.

Domenicali, whose
team will unveil their 2011 car at the end of January after it passed a
series of mandatory crash tests last month, is now raring to go for the
season having admitted Red Bull were “objectively” quicker than the
Italians last year.

“I know the team and I think I am the right person to capitalise best on what we have done in these months,” he said.

“From a methodology
point of view, at Maranello we have changed almost everything and I’m
certain that soon we will see the results of all this work.” The
sport’s most successful team, who finished a distant third overall last
year with Alonso and Brazilian Felipe Massa, said on their website
(www.ferrari.com) that their factory was fully back to work after the
Christmas break.

“The new season
beckons, with the launch of the new car planned for the final week of
this month, while testing gets underway on February 1 at Cheste’s
Ricardo Tormo circuit near Valencia,” the team said.

Alonso and Massa
will take part in a media event with Italian MotoGP rider Valentino
Rossi, now with Ducati, in the Dolomites next week.