Ferrari has announced that Aldo Costa is no longer its technical director

A brief statement issued by Italian the team this afternoon stated that with immediate effect, Costa relinquishes his role to "take on new responsibilities within the Company".

At the same time, the Maranello outfit reveals that "technical activity has been restructured in three areas". The director for the chassis side is Pat Fry, production is in the hands of Corrado Lanzone, while Engine and Electronics continues with Luca Marmorini. All three will report directly to the team principal, Stefano Domenicali.

The move comes as Ferrari continues to lose ground to both Red Bull and McLaren. On Sunday, despite a brilliant start which saw him lead the Spanish Grand Prix for the first 16 laps, Fernando Alonso suffered the indignity of being lapped by the race leaders in the closing stages.

After 5 rounds of the 2011 season, the Maranello outfit - still recovering from its shock defeat in the 2010 season finale in Abu Dhabi following a superb late season fight back - is 110 points behind Red Bull having made only one visit to the podium.

In the wake of the team's 2010 defeat there were calls in the Italian media and even from Italian politicians for company president Luca di Montezemolo to stand down. Ultimately however, it was head of race track engineering Chris Dyer who fell on his sword.

At a time when some are questioning whether team principal Stefano Domenicali is simply too nice for such a role, should the Maranello outfit suffer another unfulfilled season there could be plenty more people taking on "new responsibilities" with the team - surely the Maranello equivalent of being sent to Siberia.