Chris Dyer could get the axe

"Some things will change and, sure, some heads will roll," said the authoritative Italian daily La Gazzetta dello Sport.

The newspaper did not name Dyer - Ferrari's chief track engineer - but some Spanish sources did, claiming it was the Australian's decision to "cover" Mark Webber's Abu Dhabi race strategy that stranded Fernando Alonso behind Vitaly Petrov.

"The only thing we can do is try to take a breath, recharge the batteries and push people to do a better job next year," team boss Stefano Domenicali said.

Triple world champion Niki Lauda told the Austrian press on Monday: "There should be three days of morning, then they all eat spaghetti again and forget the defeat."

Fernando Alonso said the reason for the championship loss was the pace of Red Bull's car.

"They had the best car, and Vettel showed with his 10 pole positions that he was the fastest.  And that's not easy.

"It's worse to lose the title when you have the best car, like we did at McLaren in 2007.  This time it's clear that Red Bull were better," the Spaniard told El Pais newspaper.