In a shock announcement that first did its rounds as a rumour on Twitter, Ferrari have announced that Stefano Domenicali has stepped down from his role as team principal at the Maranello based team..

Domenicali who has been the team principal for Ferrari since 2008, handed in his resignation today. Ferrari Americas CEO and President, Marco Mattiacci, will take up the role as the new team principal for Ferrari’s F1 team. Mattiacci will take over with immediate effect.

Although some would argue that Domenicali had it coming, the resignation comes as somewhat of a surprise.  Back in September last year, Ferrari President Luca Di Montezemolo was quoted as saying that Domenicali’s job was not on the line and that should he leave, he would be missed. He also indicated that narrowly losing the last two Drivers’ World Titles was no fault of Domenicali’s. “Over the past three years, we have lost two drivers’ world titles at the last race and it was not his fault,” di Montezemolo said at the time.

This lead us to think that Domenicali was safe in his position. But it seems that things have been getting increasingly frustrating at the Scuderia with di Montezemolo’s patience wearing thin.

One cannot help but wonder whether Domenicali may have been pushed to resign by Ferrari President Luca Di Montezemolo. Since taking over as team principal for Ferrari, he has not had much success. He’s had a string of second place finishes in the Constructors’ Championship but no World Championship titles to boast about.

Domenicali’s replacement, Marco Matiacci does not have much Formula 1 experience at all and seems a strange choice.

Before his appointment as team principal, he was the President and CEO at Ferrari North America. It does seem a bit of a curious appointment as Matiacci’s field of expertise is business development, rather than technical F1 management.

This could point toward the start of a bigger reshuffle at the Maranello based team, and all eyes will be on the Prancing Horse for future announcements.