Ron Dennis is back!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula-one/25753221

Scuppers their chances of getting Alonso in but ultimately a good thing for McLaren?

This has surprised me, can you imagine the infighting in McLaren for this to of happened.

Whitmarsh has always come across as a wet blanket. Given the lack of wins, it’s no surprise that he’s out.
Ron said making cars wouldn’t affect racing, but clearly it has.

Good news

I know he has his critics but I really like Ron. He’s just a total perfectionist and doesn’t suffer fools. He’s done rather a good job with the road car program hasn’t he?

I hope it’s a return to form.

Really hope Alonso doesn’t join McLaren and that Ross Brawn stays with them after his sabbatical…

Wrong linky for me.

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/formula-one/25766407

Good news for mclaren IMO.

Sure he has his share of critics, but his results speak for themselves.

Worth reading if you’re a Ron Dennis fan (or not)[/url]

I’ve got a massive amount of respect for his achievements, but I’m not mad keen on him from what I’ve seen of him on telly*, he seems to hold himself in quite a high regard. Is this really the best thing for the team? Would he not have been better off supporting Martin Whitmarsh and makinig the current situation work, rather than mounting his own little personal coup? What’s likely to change now in the running of the team that he couldn’t have orchestrated without utterly undermining Whitmarsh? That can’t be a united team right now, surely.

* With the usual proviso that this is a long way from actually knowing what he’s like as a person.

Ross Brawn team principle FTW 🙂

(couldn’t afford him in reality I guess)

Given the news a couple of days ago that Mansour Ojjeh stepped down from the McLaren board and put his brother in his place then this, it seems the board had enough of McLaren run as it was. Mansour had been really ill for some time so perhaps getting his brother to take his place tipped the balance in favour of Ron.

Can’t be a bad thing as McLaren can’t get much worse right now.

thekingisdead –
Good news for mclaren IMO.

Sure he has his share of critics, but his results speak for themselves.

Worth reading if you’re a Ron Dennis fan (or not)
Interesting read, cheers for sharing. 🙂

mos – Member

Whitmarsh has always come across as a wet blanket.

Yep, totally agree. Great right hand man, but not a leader.

Whitmarsh, what exactly has he done with McLaren, nothing much, mis managed the talents of Alonso, and then Lewis , poor cars, which take an age to develop, sometimes in the wrong direction, and always behind his rivals, and a mistake in signing Perez last year. writing was on the wall, i am surprised he lasted to the end of last season tbh.
Ron will bring back a strict and firm hand, with a big reputation behind him to back up his decisions.
Looks like an interesting 2014 even without the new engine/regs.

I’ve got a massive amount of respect for his achievements, but I’m not mad keen on him from what I’ve seen of him on telly*, he seems to hold himself in quite a high regard

Tbh, if I’d achieved what RD has achieved (read the article I linked to) I’d probably hold myself in pretty high regard too 😉

his win at all costs mentality is there to be admired by some, loathed by others.
i have mixed feelings about this, without doubt he will not employ a team principal who will not act as his puppet, so someone like Sam Michael will probably step into the role of team principal, reporting to Ron and acting as his right hand man.
in my mind, that puts them at a disadvantage when it comes to the likes of Red Bull and Mercedes. If Ron really wants to make a change and make Mclaren a real force again, hire Boullier or (if he can get him) Horner.

Tbh, if I’d achieved what RD has achieved (read the article I linked to) I’d probably hold myself in pretty high regard too

Yeah, read it and enjoyed it. Just not very keen on him as a person. Did you see the film Senna? There’s a scene from that, before Senna’s last drive for McLaren, where Ron’s having a chat with Ayrton before the race, saying something along the lines of “let’s put that behind us and do the best job we can”. And Senna pauses for a second or two and says “even without you saying that, that was what I was going to do”. Also remember hearing about Niki Lauda’s last race, and after Niki had said his final words to the press, Ron jumped on the mic and made a speech about how much McLaren had done for him, and how much he owed his third championship to them, something like that (can’t find the anecdote on t’interweb, but I know the book it’s in, will look it up over the weekend). Just… A bit clumsy and/or inappropriate at times – a fantastic organiser, a man with an eye for detail, generous and loyal, and I’ve got the greatest respect for him, but I’m never going to warm to him as person.

Really interesting stuff and I’m definitely excited about it all. Ron Dennis is one of those successful-but-controversial figures that makes the sport so enticing to watch. Have saved that article for when I get a break, thanks TKID! 🙂

I don’t think he was ever far away from the centre of power whatever his title may have been. MacLaren has been his life for the longest time. As for controversial if he wasn’t in sports with all the media interst he’d just be a “normal” highly focused and successful executive going about his business.

In other news I hope Ecclestone goes to jail

Ron Dennis – always called a spade an optimal manual ground excavation implement.

mos – Member
Whitmarsh has always come across as a wet blanket.

This. I’m actually surprised he lasted this long after the way he, didn’t, handle Hamilton

thepurist – I’m looking forward to more Ronspeak too; it’s a real highlight.

This season is looking like being very interesting. Can’t wait.

Without a top driver(s) I’m afraid its still P3 for Mclaren regardless.

@hora – so a world champion is not a top driver?

Is or was?

Or is a good solid driver?

You need either a searingly fast rookie or one of the top three current drivers IMO.

Whens the last time he finished in the top 3 for the championship?

Assuming you mean Jenson, that would be 2011. 2nd. Ahead of Lewis Hamilton in the same car.

And they might just have a screaming fast newbie. Time will tell.

@hora – i would agree with you if the car had shown any kind of potential and the drivers threw it away, but only Buttons race craft kept it on the straight and narrow, while perez went crazy. I dont think button is top 3 , but hes top 5 of the current crop, and someone who can win races and titles again, and for McLaren thats the best they could get, given Alonso stayed at Ferrari.

Its 2014 next. I don’t think hes the quickest or rated within reach of winning now- I think its Alonso, Vettel or Kimi. Like Lewis (sadly) I think they’ve peaked. Kimi has something to prove (I bet).

@back – I was gobsmacked when they signed Perez, it was almost a hash/knee-jerk then sold quickly by Whitmarsh as he was meant to do it. You must admit- since the signing we were all waiting to see if this was a brilliant choice/hidden masterstroke?

It turns out (for me) they handled Lewis appallingly. Just how bad was their car over the past few seasons? Who knows but Mclaren are always hit and miss. Before Lewis’s win McLarens last title was EIGHT years previous.

Im hoping the new engine era makes 2014 exciting to watch. If its a Vettel procession again I’ll switch to wendyball and tattoo my sons name in badly written numerals on my arm and arabic across my chest.

I think Magnussen could be a real coup for them. His dad was arguably the fastest driver of his generation on pure ability but didn’t really take it seriously enough (he still smoked when he was in F1). Kevin seems almost as fast but is a bit more focused than his dad was, more of a Hamilton than a Button though.

and lets face it, i think everyone would agree that Massa threw that title down the tubes with his inability to stop hitting Lewis, the walls, and silly mistakes throughout the season, that title of lewis’ for me was a bit of a gift. mclaren therefore would be having a very long stretch without titles.
i always think the policy of letting the drivers race is nonsense in this day and age, there’s a number 1 driver and a backup, if that had been applied at mclaren, they would have a few more titles now, and perhaps alonso would have stayed.
its a tatic thats worked very well with RBR (despite them saying otherwise) and Ferrari.
EDIT: which is why i think 2014 will be a terrible year for ferrari.

Its going to be fireworks!

I’d love to see Alonso bite his tongue and let his talent (and he is bloody talented) do the talking. I bet if hes pushed he should respond better this time? i.e learnt/channel his talent rather than distraction.

His dad was arguably the fastest driver of his generation on pure ability but didn’t really take it seriously enough (he still smoked when he was in F1).

I don’t get the aura that surrounds the elder Magnussen. He didn’t impress when i watched him. As for the fags, Keke Rosberg was a winner while still on the tabs. Unlike his son.

Genuinely surprised it has taken this long, McLarens performance last year was abysmal and their race strategy was at best poor at worst appalling, overall they were out performed by far lesser teams in terms of budget, personnel and drivers.

Hopefully Ron will kick arse and get McLaren back to winning ways

And don’t be surprised to see Mr Ross on the pit wall sometime soon 🙂

every year i also hope someone in the backfield does “a Brawn” and lucks into some piece of loophole/technology that blasts the others away.
Caterham for example!

McLaren and their weird and wonderful ways of calling decisions/tactics have form. The amount of times (Lewis in China cost him the championship amongst other idiot-calls)-also pitstop hoo-har’s are their forte.

His dad was arguably the fastest driver of his generation on pure ability but didn’t really take it seriously enough (he still smoked when he was in F1).

I know there was massive anticipation before he made F1, but I’m not sure Jan ever did anything to prove it at the highest level.

back2basics – Member
every year i also hope someone in the backfield does “a Brawn” and lucks into some piece of loophole/technology that blasts the others away.
Caterham for example!

You’re rather forgetting two key points here as to why that’s unlikely.
– Honda had an awful car the year before and stopped working on it very early, developing what became the Brawn
– Honda had a lot of money to do that and still paid Brawn a fair chunk of cash to (just about) keep going in 2009 to avoid bad publicity.

I don’t think Caterham can really match up to that… unfortunately. I would be quite cool.

As to McL, as someone said, I reckon MW is probably a very good manager, just not a true leader and much as I don’t really like Ron much, I do believe that he is a good leader and will almost certainly lead to McL having better results which is a good thing for the sport.

I do wonder about Ross and Ron, but to be honest unless Ron has changed drastically while he has been away i cannot see him letting go of his Darth Vader grip that he enjoyed when he was last at McLaren.
For sure he has made himself vocal about Lewis and the current crop of drivers who seem to enjoy the fame more than getting down and driving.

Personally i thought Brawn will be back with Honda at mclaren in 2015, not sure about that now.
I still think if Ferrari dont win or dont even look like championship contenders by middle of 2014, Stefano will be *OUT* and brawn in!
Its a real make or break year for Ferrari.
a poor car could see them lose 2 top drivers as they are both on 1 year contracts

So they can snaffle Vettel for 2015

why would Vettel leave though for Ferrari who have not won anything in ages? he certainly has a liking for Ferrari as most racing drivers would , but he’s not an idiot, unless he is part of major changes at ferrari, and/or the RBR this year is rubbish, he’ll not move. plus RBR owner has got very deep pockets for Vettel if need be.