Ron Dennis back in charge at Mclaren - Whitmarsh doomed

Ron Dennis has staged an internal coup and wrestled back control of the McLaren Formula 1 team.
Dennis, who stood down as team principal in 2009 and had been at loggerheads with the board, has been appointed chief executive officer.
He replaces Martin Whitmarsh, whose role as team principal is under threat.

No-one at McLaren has been sacked or made redundant. The identity of their team principal from 2014 will be announced next month.
McLaren have not said whether Whitmarsh will lose his position as team principal, but it must be considered highly likely.

Dennis - who has been made chief executive officer of the McLaren Group - has been in dispute with Whitmarsh over the last two years.
On several occasions, Dennis has tried to remove his former protégé from his position.

He had failed because of his fractured relationship with the other board members. It is not immediately clear how that has been repaired.
Dennis told the McLaren staff on Thursday that "there will be change" and "we will win again".

In December, Dennis said that he had spoken about the future with former Mercedes team boss Ross Brawn, who will be considered a front-runner to be McLaren's new team principal once he has finished a planned six-month sabbatical.

A senior McLaren insider told BBC Sport that Dennis did not want to return to a role on the pit wall at races.
Dennis, who is also the non-executive chairman of the McLaren Group, has been dissatisfied with the performance of the F1 team for some time.

They had their worst season for three decades in 2013, failing to score a podium finish for the first time since 1980, before Dennis took full control of McLaren.

The team have not won a drivers' world championship since Lewis Hamilton in 2008, and have failed to win the constructors' title since 1998.
Dennis said in a McLaren statement that the company's shareholders had "mandated me to write an exciting new chapter in the story of McLaren, beginning by improving our on-track and off-track performance".

He added: "Over the coming weeks I intend to undertake a thorough and objective review of each of our businesses with the intention of optimising every aspect of our existing operations, while identifying new areas of growth that capitalise on our technologies, and where appropriate further investing in them.

"During February, I will articulate a new Group strategy and implement the organisational structure best suited to achieving it."
There has been no change in the company's shareholding. The Bahrain royal family's Mumtalakat investment fund still owns 50%, with Dennis owning 25% and his long-time partner Mansour Ojjeh the remaining 25%.

Ojjeh is recovering from a double lung transplant and has temporarily relinquished his role as a director to his bother Aziz.
Dennis remains in his role as chairman of McLaren Automotive.

Whitmarsh had been trying to persuade Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso to join the team in 2015.
Dennis's new role must now make that highly unlikely as the two fell out in dramatic style when the Spaniard drove for McLaren in 2007.

Last month, Dennis told BBC Sport that he would not have a problem with the two-time champion returning to the team but Alonso himself has made it clear he still blames Dennis for their past problems.
Alonso is anyway under contract to Ferrari until the end of 2016, although his relationship with the Italian team cooled during a troubled 2013 season.

Source: BBC Sport

Don't be surprised to see Ross Brawn on the Mclaren wall now they've patched their differences up.

  Well done Ron, finally seen sense that McLaren has been run by a complete tool for years. Completely inept at his job & just an embarrassingly poor leader. He turned one of the most professional racing teams into a complete an utter joke. Under his leadership it was farsical at times & without doubt cost the team a number of wins & a championship. Losing Hamilton to a rival was a shocker, a** licking Button was a huge mistake & to lose Paddy Lowe just compounded his problems.

To be honest, I don't really care about McLaren now Hamilton has left. I'm sure they will turn it around now under Ron Dennis. He`s ruthless & knows & understands how to win in this sport. Wouldn't surprise me to see Brawn rock up at Woking.

Martin Whitmarsh is gone or going shortly. Thankgod!       

I would say there is now a very good chance that Ross Brawn will take over as Team Principal. All the pieces fit together such as he and Dennis have had talks, he is available and also McLaren will be taking Honda engines soon - Brawn has worked with Honda before.

Yes I agree. It has to be a move to get Brawn in and ship Whitmarsh somewhere else. I was sort of hoping Brawn would go to Williams - that would have been a challenging prospect to revitalise Williams and get them back towards the top.

Do you think this will discourage Alonso from returning to Mclaren in the future?

Alonso wont work with Dennis again. Would take a serious upset for those 2 to work together again.

Clearly Dennis has a plan and is prepared to be ruthless

Looks like happier times are just around the corner for McLaren fans.

The team were consistent winners, or at least in close contention for titles under Dennis and have been little better than average under Whitmarsh's leadership.

Guess this means we won't be seeing Alonso at McLaren, as the Spaniard still seems sore about how things worked out last time, even though Ron is apparently open to the idea. Would be very happy if Brawn becomes the new team principal though.

As John said, Dennis is very single-minded and won't take any crap from anyone. It'll be either his way or the highway...which might not be such a bad thing after all...

McLaren need a coherent leader. They've been pretty aimless the past few years. Someone grabbing the team by the scruff of the neck should be good.

Lewis back to Dennis and Brawn, two people he arguably respects the msot at the end of his current contract?

banbrotam wrote:Lewis back to Dennis and Brawn, two people he arguably respects the msot at the end of his current contract?

That's at the end of 2015. Too far to even think about as a possibility.

Really depends on Mercedes performance. A refocused McLaren with Dennis and Brawn will look awfully tempting if Merc don't deliver a winning drive

John wrote:

banbrotam wrote:Lewis back to Dennis and Brawn, two people he arguably respects the msot at the end of his current contract?

That's at the end of 2015. Too far to even think about as a possibility.

I'm aware of that, but that could be the ideal time for a 'homecoming'. Brawn will have had a full season to sort out the team

Eric Boullier replaced at Lotus by Gerard Lopez. Wow. Immediate rumours of heading to McLaren.

I've heard alot of rumours that things have not been right behind the scenes at Lotus & Boullier was unhappy. Guess this is confirmation. I also fear, because they are missing out on the first test, that the car is also way behind schedule & they might not be as competitive this season. Could be a bad move for Pastor Maldonado in the end & what does that mean for Grosjean, who was managed by Boullier. Certainly spicing things up now.

TBF the rumours seem to be people drawing lines. I don't see it if Brawns open to taking over in the near future

John wrote:Eric Boullier replaced at Lotus by Gerard Lopez. Wow. Immediate rumours of heading to McLaren.

I've heard alot of rumours that things have not been right behind the scenes at Lotus & Boullier was unhappy. Guess this is confirmation. I also fear, because they are missing out on the first test, that the car is also way behind schedule & they might not be as competitive this season. Could be a bad move for Pastor Maldonado in the end & what does that mean for Grosjean, who was managed by Boullier. Certainly spicing things up now.

Blimey! I hadn't heard anything about that.

Agree that a change of team principal, plus missing the first pre-season test, could spell an unhappy season for Lotus...or at least nothing like as competitive as the last one, as they're always going to be playing catch-up. Hope I'm wrong though.

Seems it will be Boullier at McLaren. Ron not waiting for Brawn.

Whitmarsh likely to walk I guess

Might be interesting if Grosjean carries on his strong form. With Jenson seemingly year to year now