I never found Martin Whitmarsh to be a great replacement for Ron on the pit wall. I think Ron should be leading all aspects of McLaren until he is ready to hang up his last Hugo Boss suit and pass the reigns to another person. I am not quite sure he can be replaced so that day, whenever it comes, will pose another challenge for the brand. Ron has a proven ability to lead that organization through a lot of turmoil and a lot of success - I hope to see more of the latter for them of course as the success of the F1 team will have a direct impact on the growth potential of the rest of the brand. A stronger McLaren would force Ferrari to improve some aspects of their business as well I believe. A benefit, no matter which you prefer. If that return to success for McLaren Racing proves to be impossible in the near term then I hope that Kimi wins in a red car and that RedBull has a few seasons of despair. >8^) ER
I think that if Whitmarsh and Button go, with Dennis and Sam Micheal, it will be the least likeable team on the grid. It's been reported a few times that Dennis has been trying to blackmail Whitmarsh. That's just sad. I think at this point honda will also be their main sponsor next year and is already financing them this season
You don't need to be likeable to win races. Rubens Barrichello was rather likeable and he didn't win too many as I recall. Tweet from the inside the MTC this morning: " The office is buzzing this morning! Mixture of excitement & panic in the air #TheRonEffect " That's good news in my book. >8^) ER
I always liked Whitmarsh and never liked Ron Dennis. I am a Ferrari fan. McLaren have unfortunately done the right thing by dumping Whitmarsh. Whitmarsh's tenure as McLaren principle has been a disaster. How much of it is down to him and how much is poor timing we will never know, but the team needed to do something. I hope Ross Brawn doesn't go to 'the dark side', but I fear he may.
Many people forget that the reason he left in the first place was that he was found guilty of forcing Hamilton to lie to the FIA and to avoid further punishment he left of his own will. #ThePosEffect
"Ron was not, to the best of my knowledge, involved in anything that happened in Australia or in the lead up to Malaysia. So therefore I don’t believe there’s a link." - Martin Whitmarsh The explanations for Dennis's departure - F1 Fanatic Lewis Hamilton's McLaren suspend sporting director Dave Ryan for Australian GP fiasco - Telegraph The FIA's decision on McLaren in full - F1 news - AUTOSPORT.com Nowhere was Ron "found guilty" of anything by the FIA in that incident. >8^) ER
I don´t believe in Messiahs, saviours or whatever you name it. Plus, Ron Dennis´ last 10 years where not that great. But something had to be done, let´s see what happens. If McLaren wins from now on we will never know if it was thanks to Ron Dennis or because Martin Withmarsh got a good deal with Honda, or just because F1 goes in cycles.
John Watson weighs in on the change of control here: Exclusive John Watson Q&A: Former driver on what Ron Dennis' return means at McLaren | Sky Sports >8^) ER
Speculation Ross Brawn will return to Formula One, after Ron Dennis stages internal coup at McLaren - Telegraph
I'm very curious to see who they have for a sponsor. I know there was a sony rumor; have the changed the name of the team yet?
As Joe Seward noted in his recent blog entry when driver numbers were revealed, "the team is called McLaren Racing Ltd." so that name won't change. Their Facebook page is still 'Vodafone McLaren Mercedes" - I would expect that to change very shortly. They have released this image that implies we should know the new sponsor on Monday: https://scontent-a-lax.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/t1/1011788_1412419175669993_745911544_n.jpg >8^) ER
Whitmarsh screwed up royally He had the fastest car at the end of one season and turned it into a Turd the following season at that too in the worst possible Year in which they needed a new title sponsor - IMO things are worse than they appear and they have NO title sponsor That's 75mill short fall in their budget I can't imagine why any one would want to be title sponsor for McL they are Getting overshadowed by RB MB & Ferrari. It not like the old days when it Was just Ferrari and McLaren as the top 2. - I hope I'm wrong
They should have continued developing their 2012 car. Going to the pushrod front suspension (or pull rod...whatever it was that Ferrari struggled with as well) was a tremendous and unnecessary mistake. Their 2012 car mainly needed reliability work. Not a complete redesign when the following year the rules change...
I am still surprised they ditched Sergio - not because I thought he was great at all, but he was well backed with money from his home country. Perhaps the access to it was based on certain performance targets and results being achieved and since they whiffed last season there was no chance of that? Anyway - I hope they do have a surprise in store for the new title sponsor and that the surprise is not 'no title sponsor'. Would be nice to see someone new enter the sport instead of everyone passing around the same money bags and graphics. I also hope very dearly that they race in an Orange livery this season, but I think Ron does have a fondness for that chrome finish. >8^) ER
No one in particular I think - 'team kit' is likely referring to their new uniforms for the drivers and mechanics. Perhaps they are holding a Hugo Boss-sponsored fashion show? >8^) ER
Ron Dennis back in full control of Mclaren is - Cant beleive I'm saying this - good news. Ron was ousted becuase of Mercedes board did not want to be involved with a Liar - and it also costed McLaren $100M penalty ... so kinda hard to live that one down... but if you look at it back then you could see that Dennis was scheming his way back: 1. Appoint a soft manager - Witmarsh 2. Engineer decline in McLaren Performance 3. Engineer Mercedes to leave McLaren - poor results in the Mercedes Mclaren super car. etc... 4. Set up McLaren road car production and gain big press - British Ferrari... thing. 5. Strategically show up at races - but not seem too involved. 6. work with your "partners and investors to buy back your long time friend TAG Oehij SP? - shares and have him step off the board. 7. have board call youback as the day to day guy running F-1 and Road car team... 8. wipe out all those who alowed you to fall 9. Make deals with who ever it takes to win again- Honda etc... 10. becomes WDC in 2016 Having Ron Back in F-1 is actually the right place for him. wish him well. he got a raw deal on the Spy gate thing... pay te $100M - ok but have to step down - no
