McLaren Oust Ron Dennis as Chairman

[Paul Jeffrey]

The McLaren Honda team have today confirmed long standing Chairman Ron Dennis has been placed on gardening leave after a decision to remove the the 69 year old from his role as Chairman and Chief Executive of the McLaren Technology Group was taken by the team's remaining shareholders.

Dennis will retain his role on the board of both the McLaren Technology Group and McLaren Automotive Limited as well as 25% stake in the company. Both the Bahraini Mumtalakat investment fund and long time ally Mansour Ojjeh (50% and 25% stakeholders respectively) made the decision to enforce Dennis stepping down from his role following the end of the worst season in recent memory for McLaren, a team that has failed to win a Grand Prix since Jenson Button crossed the finished line at the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix.

"I am disappointed that the representatives of TAG and Mumtalakat, the other main shareholders in McLaren, have forced through this decision to place me on gardening leave, despite the strong warnings from the rest of the management team about the potential consequences of their actions on the business,” Dennis said.​

“The grounds they have stated are entirely spurious; my management style is the same as it has always been and is one that has enabled McLaren to become an automotive and technology group that has won 20 Formula One world championships and grown into an £850 million a year business. ​

“Throughout that time I have worked closely with a series of talented colleagues to keep McLaren at the cutting edge of technology, to whom I will always be extremely grateful.”
​

Ron Dennis' current contract is due to expire at the end of January, and the former mechanic and architect of McLaren's 20 World Championship successes plans to remain on the board of the McLaren group whilst also turning his attention to business activity outside of his former Formula One commitments.

“Ultimately it has become clear to me through this process that neither TAG nor Mumtalakat share my vision for McLaren and its true growth potential. But my first concern is to the business I have built and to its 3,500 employees. ​

“I will continue to use my significant shareholding in both companies and my seats on both boards to protect the interests and value of McLaren and help shape its future. ​

“In addition I intend to launch a new technology investment fund once my contractual commitments with McLaren expire. This will capitalise on my expertise, my financial resources, together with external investment to pursue the many commercial opportunities l have been offered in recent years but have been unable to take up while being so committed to the existing business.”
​

It is not yet clear who will take over Dennis's role at McLaren post January 2017, however the group have a number of highly capable staff across the business and disruption to the immediate operation of the organisation should be kept to a minimum.

The announcement brings the end of an era to McLaren. After recent struggles in Formula One it will be interesting to see if the change sparks long term improvements in this once great team.


Surprised at the McLaren announcement? Do you think it is a wise move to remove Dennis from the group? Let us know in the comments section below!

 

[Rodent]

Writing's been on the wall for a while now hasn't it?

 

[4 8 15 16 23 42 108]

I knew this for several weeks now. But everyone has to go someday, right?

 

[antirussia81]

I knew this for several weeks now. But everyone has to go someday, right?

Sure. The question is: is it the best moment to let him go? McLarens results were pretty disappointing but lately there was a light visible at the end of the tunnel.

 

[Paul McCluskey]

it's not just about the f1 team

 

[LeSunTzu]

No idea if this is a good thing for the group, but for the F1 team Dennis' return to business did not really stop the free fall. They should be competing with Mercedes, RedBull and Ferrari, not Toro Rosso. It is more than time to hand over the management of the F1 team to someone new.

 

[Paul Jeffrey]

I would have liked him to go out on his own terms, his past record deserves that at least, but maybe the time is right for a change. Christ, they have to do something because results are simply unacceptable at the moment.

 

[Rodent]

Seems like there's quite a lot of people involved in F1 that will not go without being told.

 

[Sicario Del Toro]

I'll miss seeing him there , he was a unique character and a winner at heart .

 

[Blimey]

Expect the arabs to build a spaceship for F1 next season.

 

[Chris]

I have a heightened sense that this will not be beneficial to the organisational objectives of focusing bandwidth on core competencies in addition to delivering strategic outcomes based on positive target indicators.


RIP RonSpeak.

 

[Tom Blackett]

Paying for the bad decision to go with Honda, the light is getting brighter but results rule the world in this day and age.

 

[fortyfivekev]

Not sure this has very much to do with the F1 team although it probably hasn't helped. Ron apparently had ambitious plans for the business that the other investors weren't very enthusiastic about. He's had a great career though, not too many people start as race mechanics and end up running a business like that.

 

[Rodent]

On the bright side, to add a bit of Mansellspeak, it's nice to see the politicking affecting someone but the drivers for a change.

 

[Queequeg]

He might have overstretched himself and the company too far in these last few years, leading in new sponsors like Honda and inverstors like the Bahraini investment fund. The former cost a lot of performance on the track in F1, the latter gave power to the very shareholders who now ended up firing him.

But a business runs on money and capital is needed. Considering Dennis started as a mechanic he could not ever have funded all his business interests with McLaren out of his own pocket and what he ended up building and achieving with initially limited resources is outstanding. Nothing but respect for the guy. I will miss Ronspeak in F1 just as bad as the speaker himself.

I hope the new McLaren mangement can keep the company in safe waters financially and eek out more performance in their F1 efforts.

 

[Samuel Fuller]

I don't see how going with Honda was a bad move. They knew that sticking with Merc when they have a works team means that you may come second every year but they wont let you win. Moving to Honda meant that they would have a couple of really poor years with a chance to win once more in the future. I think it was a good move. Williams will never win the WDC with a Merc engine, whilst Merc still have a works team. If second is good enough for Mclaren then you stick with Merc. However they want to win.

 

[Andrew Harper]

As @Samuel Fuller mentions the usual recipe for major success is to have works engine deal, Williams Renault, McLaren Honda, McLaren Mercedes, Williams Honda, etc.

I would imagine this was Ron's desire as a recipe for championship glory.

I feel slightly bad for him only because he's brought the team a lot of success (but also the car business which has been a massive success both on road and GT programs). So to be completely kicked out seems extremely harsh.

Yes the F1 program is suffering but to lay all the blame on his shoulders I find slightly unfair but F1 is never a particular fair business anyway!

To have the running of such a large company such as McLaren entrusted to a collection of board room members I find slightly scary....at least Ron was a petrol head

 

[mathew alsop]

Maybe it's his time to go, he has been amazing for mclaren but maybe it's someone else's turn

 

[SutilRocks]

First of all it is in line with the wish of ruining the team the already been casted to the midfield by Honda. McLaren has lost way to much money compared to RB, Mercedes, Ferrari and even Force India thanks to the continuous failing of Honda. 2nd of all they also expect Ron to sell McLaren road cars to people with a normal office job which is just unrealistic these cars are expensive. And last but not least which unqualified and dumb person would take over then? I tell ya they gonna go the same path as Ferrari put an incompetent person in Charge he fails to win 3 races in a row and he gets fired (Stefano Domenicali). if they wanna avoid a crisis (which is already the situation with McLaren) then the can better retract from F1 completely. It would be a shame since i am a massive McLaren fan but when the Mercedes Engine went out the door so did McLaren's whole history and soul.

 

[Motowntom]

A true legend in F1, what a career! good luck in all you do in the future Ron.
Cheers