Will Ron Dennis be a motor-racing Legend?

I voted against..just because i don't like him

 

He already is, has been for a while. Along with Enzo, Chapman, Williams, Brawn etc.

 

It's an interesting question but to want change or influence in the way that Chapman and Enzo did might be a bit unfair. They were in on the pioneering days and that's just not going to happen any longer in this particular league of racing. I think he had a big impact when compared to his peers but Newey will always be the modern legend.

Will be interesting to see who comes after the current old guard.

 

Ron Dennis has been the stalwart leader of the second oldest team left in F1, and more success has been accumulated under his guidance than by any other team principal.


When Enzo Ferrari was alive (he died in 1988), the Scuderia won 9 drivers championships and 5 constructors titles.

Since 1980 when Ron Dennis took over, McLaren has won 10 drivers championships and 7 constructors titles.

 

Que Phil to come and pour some Haterade on William.

 

Definitely.

 

He will be remembered as the guy who' discovered 'Lewis ....If Lewis achieves legendary status then maybe uncle Ron might too ...bit too early to tell i think.

 

What about Lauda, Prost, Senna and Hakkinen, recruited by Ron Dennis at McLaren then?

They shared 9 WDCs among them !!! Does that count for nothing ?

 

Ron didn't discover the talents of any of the drivers you listed unlike Lewis, but yes he did hire them

BTW Teddy Mayer hired Prost for McLaren in 1980 ... his first F1 team but after one season he moved to Renault.
Pete

 

Hamilton got only 1 WDC when at McLaren, but gave Ron Dennis plenty of headaches!

 

100% true and personally speaking was his undoing, as it was Ron's inability to control Lewis that lead to the disastrous 2007 season, where Alonso was a shoe in for WDC. Please all, lets not return to arguing who was better.

I still struggle with how Lewis told him to go swivel after all the stories I've heard about how Ron Dennis funded his motorsport from the karting days up to F1. That would have cost a fortune and not at all the respect he deserved.
Pete

 

He will be remembered.

A legend? I´m not sure. No matter how much he has won, I think modern F1 can´t produce legends anymore, just "famous people". He´s not in the same league as Enzo Ferrari or Colin Chapman, first because he was not the founder of McLaren and second, because those lived in the days when motorsport was a dangerous adventure.

Yet, everybody is talking about Dennis as if he was already dead and buried. Maybe we should wait a little more, just in case.

 

Would you include Brawn and Newey into the category of 'just famous people'?

They have left such an unmistakable mark on the last two decades of F1, Brawn even having his own team in the maiden year score the WDC.
I think that's legendary stuff.

 

To me, Ron Dennis deserves to be called a motor racing legend together like Enzo Ferrari and Colin Chapman, just as much as John Cooper, Roger Penske, or Jim Hall.
These people all have managed racing teams very successfully and created sporting history.

 

You can add Gordon Murray to that list. And a few others, I am sure.

 

I think modern motorsport is too "corporative" to talk about "legends".

But time will tell.

 

That would be my perspective too. I never was a great fan of "Ron the human being" (for what I can see or know of him through the medias...) and I still have trouble to swallow Martin Whitmarsh ousting, for instance, but I do give him credit for having established a great team. But a "legend", I guess the word does not exactly fit. And he lacks the charsima, romantic madness, etc...than one would associate with "legends" in that sport.

Rgds

 

I said yes. I believe he's the first to implement modern management in F1, back in the 70s and 80s.

 

+1

Not sure I like him, not even sure what to think of him, but I don't think anyone could argue with the above.

 

John Barnard

Pete

 

I think the recent problems with the pirating of other makes software and such have tarnished his image.

 

I would definitely consider him as an F1 legend, along with the few others mentioned above - he played a very important part in my memories.

Read that McLaren got their first victory after 3/4 years in the early 80's under his leadership - their last win was with Hunt - so it wasn't like he took over a winning team.

Hakkinen /Schuey, Prost / Senna etc he was part of our history despite being our nemesis.

Not bad for a former mechanic.

Best,
Sammy

 

Remember that, as a mechanic, and if my memory serves me well, Ron Dennis was the one who forget to put that last gallon of petrol in Jack Brabham's BT33 at the british Grand Prix in 1970, costing Black Jack the victory by petrol starvation...

Rgds