Fernando Alonso has hit out at team boss Marco Mattiacci following comments he made during Friday’s press conference.

Explaining the reasoning behind signing Sebastian Vettel, the Italian said: "It is clear to everybody that we want both to open new cycles but it was important to do it with the utmost motivation and commitment".

This was clearly like a red rag to the Spanish bull, who has finished championship runner-up three times in the five seasons he has been with the Maranello outfit, consistently flattering the cars provided for him.

"I heard the comments and I don't think they were very good," he told reporters ahead of his final outing for the Italian team. "If he meant that I was not motivated, he arrived too late at Ferrari.

"He is a few months here and didn't see probably all the five years that I've spent here and how I've fought every single race in the championships," he added.

Indeed, other than the team's consistent failure to provide him with a car capable of fighting (seriously) for the championship, it's understood that another reason for the Spaniard's loss of faith in the team is the departure of Stefano Domenicali and, more recently, Luca di Montezemolo.

It's believed that the relationship between Alonso and Mattiacci has been cool at best and the Spaniard was keen to point out that it was he who decided to leave Ferrari as opposed to the Italian outfit replacing him with Vettel.

"Probably I was too old when he tried to renew me until the Monza race," he said of Mattiacci, "he kept pushing and pushing and had a lot of talks. Even in the last moment again we had a lot of phone calls and e-mails that I still have in my computer. Probably at that time I was not so old, but again when I took my decision I guess he had to find another driver."

Ironically, it is widely speculated that Mattiacci is also about to be shown the door.