Ron Dennis steps aside from F1 role

Ron Dennis steps aside from F1 role

Postby gzagee » Thu Apr 16, 2009 11:25 am

McLaren says chief executive Ron Dennis stepping aside from all Formula One roles with team

By Associated Press
5:38 AM EDT, April 16, 2009

WOKING, England (AP) — McLaren chief executive Ron Dennis is stepping aside from all Formula One roles with the team.

The 61-year-old Dennis announced the decision Thursday as part of a restructuring of the McLaren group.

Dennis resigned in January as team principle but maintained his other roles.

Martin Whitmarsh, who replaced Dennis as team principle, will now take on his CEO role.



Dennis will head a new independent division within the McLaren Group that will launch a sports car in 2011.

His departure comes amid continuing fallout from the scandal over lies by the McLaren team to race officials at the Australian Grand Prix.


http://www.newsday.com/sports/motorraci ... 3794.story
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Re: Ron Dennis steps aside from F1 role

Postby Cheese » Thu Apr 16, 2009 4:40 pm

Shocked at this news. There must be something going on to fully step aside from a team you've been with nearly all you adult life.
“What a great day for football, all we need is some green grass and a ball.”
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Re: Ron Dennis steps aside from F1 role

Postby Cheese » Thu Apr 16, 2009 10:08 pm

© Formula1.com

Dennis relinquishes Formula One role at McLaren

McLaren announced on Thursday that Ron Dennis is to hand full responsibility for the company’s Formula One operation to Martin Whitmarsh, who took over as team principal at the start of March. Dennis will now concentrate his efforts on McLaren’s road car business.

“As of today, Ron Dennis has handed his responsibility as Chief Executive Officer of McLaren Racing to Martin Whitmarsh, who will be responsible to the board for the activities of McLaren Racing in addition to his role of Team Principal of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes,” confirmed a McLaren statement.

The announcement marks the end of a long and glorious Formula One career for Dennis, dating back almost 30 years. In that time he has led McLaren to seven constructors' world championships and ten drivers' world championships.

Reflecting on his life in Formula One, Dennis commented: "I passed the role of Team Principal of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes to Martin Whitmarsh on January 16th, the day of the launch of our new Formula One car. That day I was asked many times whether I would attend the 2009 Australian Grand Prix. My answer was ‘yes’. I duly attended it - albeit not as the person in charge of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes. It was, I admit, a strange feeling.

"The next race, the Malaysian Grand Prix, I watched on TV in the UK - an activity I found surprisingly easy. I'd expected to be more emotional about it, after an unbroken run of attending so many grands prix for so many years.”

Dennis’s withdrawal comes amid a difficult time for the team, who remain embroiled in the controversy surrounding Lewis Hamilton’s disqualification from the Australian Grand Prix and the subsequent departure of McLaren sporting director Dave Ryan. Dennis insisted, however, that the decision to go was his alone.

"I admit I'm not always easy to get on with,” he added. “I admit I've always fought hard for McLaren in Formula One. I doubt if Max Mosley or Bernie Ecclestone will be displeased by my decision. But no-one asked me to do it. It was my decision. Equally, I was the architect of today's restructure of the McLaren Group. Again, no-one asked me to do it. It was my decision.

"I feel enormously enthused about the prospects for the McLaren Group and for McLaren Automotive, and have no qualms about leaving Martin to report to the board regarding matters connected with Formula One."

Dennis now takes up the role of Executive Chairman of McLaren Automotive, which will become independent of the McLaren Group later this year and plans to launch the first model in a new range of McLaren sports cars, to be built at a new UK production facility, in 2011.


© Formula1.com

Ron Dennis - the conclusion of an illustrious F1 career

McLaren’s announcement on Thursday that Ron Dennis is to bow out of Formula One racing in favour of a role championing the company’s new sports car business, brings to a close one of the most influential careers in the sport’s history. From mechanic to team principal, Dennis has been a pioneering force for the over 30 years.

He started his motorsport career back in 1966, joining the Cooper Racing Car Company after a spell as an apprentice mechanic. Within two years he moved to Brabham where he became the chief mechanic to three-time champion Jack Brabham. By 1971, however, an ambitious Dennis had left to set up his own Formula Two team, Rondel Racing.

Rondel would be the first of several successful F2 and Procar ventures Dennis was involved with over the next decade. His big break, however, came in 1980 when his team, Project Four, merged with McLaren to form McLaren Racing. Within two years he’d assumed control of the team and with him at the helm the team didn’t look back.

McLaren have since won 162 races, seven constructors’ championships and 10 driver titles, with Niki Lauda, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna just some of the famous names to have won championships whilst driving for the Woking team. Their most recent champion, Lewis Hamilton, was hand-picked by Dennis when he was just 13 years-old as a future talent.

Dennis’s entrepreneurial skills have also led McLaren to diversify into several other areas and in 1989 he co-founded McLaren Cars, which designed and manufactured the revolutionary F1 road car of 1994. As well as its automotive interests, the McLaren Group currently encompasses McLaren Electronic Systems, McLaren Applied Technologies, McLaren Marketing and Absolute Taste.

In 2000, Dennis was honoured with a CBE for services to motorsport and a year later was presented with a BRDC Gold Medal in recognition of his contribution to motorsport. Over the years he has also been awarded an Hon DTech from De Montfort University in 1996, an Hon DSc from City University (London) in 1997 and, in 2000, an Hon DSc from the University of Surrey.

He retains a stake in McLaren, alongside fellow shareholders DaimlerChrysler and the Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company. But, with his attentions now fully focused on McLaren Automotive (which will become an independent company later this year), his careful stewardship of the Formula One team passes in full to long-time colleague Martin Whitmarsh, who became team principal at the start of March.
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