F1: Chris Dyer steps backward at Ferrari

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From GMM

As expected, Chris Dyer has lost his job in the wake of the bungled race strategy that cost Ferrari the drivers' title in Abu Dhabi last year.

Chris Dyer (Photo: WRI2)

Italian reports were predicting within hours of the outcome of the season finale in November that the Australian's head "will roll" for calling in Fernando Alonso for an early pitstop that left him stranded behind Vitaly Petrov.

Chris Dyer remained in his role as Ferrari's head of race track engineering until this week, when - also as expected - the new deputy technical director Pat Fry took over.

Dyer's "role within the company will be redefined in the next few days", Ferrari announced.

Also stepping forward with a prominent new role at Ferrari is Neil Martin, who until recently was chief strategist at Red Bull. Pat Fry and Neil Martin both worked alongside Spaniard Alonso at McLaren in 2007.

Ferrari said Briton Martin, 38, will head the team's new Operations Research department, and like Pat Fry will "report directly to technical director Aldo Costa".