Formula 1
Ron Dennis: Gone or on a leave of absence?
The Spanish daily sports newspaper Marca has apparently reported Dennis will hand in his resignation after the race in Australia and Mercedes will accept it with regret. Ron Dennis, McLaren, Team Principal, Chairman and Norbert Haug, ...
Published: Feb 29, 2008, 8:45 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
The Spanish daily sports newspaper Marca has apparently reported Dennis will hand in his resignation after the race in Australia and Mercedes will accept it with regret.
Ron Dennis, McLaren, Team Principal, Chairman and Norbert Haug, Mercedes, Motorsport chief.
Photo by xpb.cc.
Dennis started his involvement with McLaren in 1980 after a merger of Ron Dennis' personal Formula 2 team, called Project 4, with the McLaren team. Dennis and his business partners took control of the operation in 1981, buying out the other shareholders. Dennis still owns 15 percent of the company originally named after its founder New Zealander Bruce McLaren who was tragically killed in 1970 in a crash at Goodwood while testing the team's new M8D Can Am car.
Following the so called Spygate debacle in which the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team were fined a record USD100 million and effectively removed from the F1 constructors championship, the latest report adds to the speculation concerning Dennis' future at the team.
Indeed Dennis having recently reduced his shareholding in the McLaren Group and the fact the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes' 2008 car launch was held at the Mercedes-Benz museum in Stuttgart had already fueled rumours that Dennis is planning to move aside. Dennis additionally played more of a background role at the launch than in previous years.
Martin Whitmarsh, the CEO of McLaren Racing and second in command is rumoured to be the one who will take over the embattled team which failed to secure the 2007 drivers title after leading the driver's championship for most of the year. In fact today's quote on the final preseason test in Barcelona was given by Whitmarsh on the team's behalf.
However far from any official confirmation McLaren, speaking to motoring commentary site Pistonheads.com said: 'We have no comment on speculation as we would then be doing it all the time, but the status quo remains the status quo.'
This was echoed by a Mercedes representative who told Pistonheads: "It's rubbish, but I think the official line is the status quo remains the same."
In further news today, McLaren Group confirmed today that they continue to cooperate in the ongoing 'spy' scandal investigation by the Modena Magistrate.
Dennis' departure from McLaren could be disastrous for the team's morale so close to the start of the season. Indeed star driver Lewis Hamilton, who has recently extended his contract at McLaren has a particularly close relationship with Dennis.
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Bridgestone announce tyre specifications
Next article Toyota Barcelona test notes 2008-02-27
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton buoyed by historic first Ferrari F1 pole: "I still love what I do"
Formula 1
Formula 1
Mexican GP
9 h
Lewis Hamilton buoyed by historic first Ferrari F1 pole: "I still love what I do"
Lewis Hamilton "praying" for Ferrari power unit after Mexico FP2 failure
Formula 1
Formula 1
Mexican GP
21 h
Lewis Hamilton "praying" for Ferrari power unit after Mexico FP2 failure
More from
Mercedes
"I'll bombard myself with melatonin": Kimi Antonelli admits to driving "tense" and "tired" on cusp of F1 title
Formula 1
Formula 1
Mexican GP
7 h
"I'll bombard myself with melatonin": Kimi Antonelli admits to driving "tense" and "tired" on cusp of F1 title
Mercedes out of performance window at Mexico GP - George Russell
Formula 1
Formula 1
Mexican GP
16 h
Mercedes out of performance window at Mexico GP - George Russell
Latest news
MotoGP Malaysian GP: Marc Marquez takes dominant win to inch closer to title
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Malaysian GP
14 min
MotoGP Malaysian GP: Marc Marquez takes dominant win to inch closer to title
MotoGP riders step up pressure in final bid to avoid Qatar Grand Prix
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Malaysian GP
55 min
MotoGP riders step up pressure in final bid to avoid Qatar Grand Prix
Live: MotoGP Malaysian Grand Prix as it happens
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Malaysian GP
1 h
Live: MotoGP Malaysian Grand Prix as it happens
Carson Kvapil gets Rodney Childers a clock and the O'Reilly Chase is wide open now
NASCAR O'Reilly
NOAP NASCAR O'Reilly
Martinsville II
2 h
Carson Kvapil gets Rodney Childers a clock and the O'Reilly Chase is wide open now
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe