Heads to roll at Ferrari and Mercedes

The design personnel at Ferrari and Mercedes will be looking nervously over their shoulders in the next few weeks following their teams' poor start to the season, according to a report.

F1 journalist Joe Saward claims in his latest blog that both teams could be making changes in the design departments before they start work on their 2012 cars.

Ferrari's engineers are under pressure to come up with solutions after the team struggled to keep up with Red Bull and McLaren in the first three races of the season.

Although team boss Stefano Domenicali feels "it is not a short-term job", Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo has warned that they need to "improve the performance of the car in a short time".

Mercedes fared even worse in the first flyaway leg of season and, according to Saward, both teams could be making changes.

'There is also discussion in the F1 paddock about the design team at Mercedes GP Petronas, with suggestions that some heads will roll there and there are even indications that Ferrari may decide to restructure as it has had a disappointing start to the season,' he wrote.

'Luca di Montezemolo can whine about F1 having too much technology but he is really only trying to divert attention away from the fact that the team does not have a competitive car. This means that the team has not done as good a job as the others as at the end of last year the Ferrari was strong enough to win a lot of races.'

Renault's bosses will also be slightly concerned, but for a different reason.

Saward claims that other teams could be looking to poach some of the Enstone-based outfit's staff.

'There is speculation in F1 circles that rival teams will be swooping in to teams such as Renault to grab the best talent. The team clearly has a good car but no-one seems to be quite sure for whom they are working and that is never a good thing. In such circumstances engineers are much more likely to leave than if things were a little more clear-cut.'