Mclaren Mercedes 2014

[FoxHound]

It is no coincidence that the day bernie steps down from his post (enforced) Dennis returns to the paddock.
The machiavellian view could stretch to Dennis being complicit in bernie's downfall. A stretch of imagination sure, but Dennis is a shrewd operator in political wrangles and has had his nose disjointed by bernie on a few occasions.

[dren]

I'd say it has more to do with past Mr.M dealings. And from what Autosport is saying, Ron tried to sway the board of directors several times to take more control. This last season finally persuaded them. James Allen has been hinting at it for a while too.

[Pup]

I can't see Bernie having much of an influence. He never seemed to care one way or another about Dennis. In fact, Whitmarsh was far better than Dennis at paddock politics, especially in organizing the teams with their negotiations with Bernie. So if anything, he'd probably welcome Ron back.

Ron is a bulldog, and puts on a show - which is inspiring, but it also means that he's often overstating his case, backtracking, and occasionally even being made a fool. Whitmarsh is a quiet, get things done sort of guy. More pragmatic and likable, but less likely to stir the troops to battle. Net result, fewer trophies but a lot more money from FOM.

I suspect that when the board sacked Dennis, it was mainly due to pressure from their partners and sponsors; i.e., Mercedes and Vodafone. So now that Vodafone is gone, and a replacement for Mercedes is secured, there's no longer that pressure on the board. Especially if Honda and the mystery sponsor have said that they're O.K. with Dennis returning.

I don't think that it was ever The Plan for Dennis to return, except perhaps in Dennis' mind.

Big question - who brought Honda on board? If it was Whitmarsh, then that's a huge point in his favor.

My guess is that Whitmarsh will stay on as COO of the overall company, and also take over one of the other divisions - automotive or applied technologies. Probably applied technologies. That seems more of a fit for him anyway.

Assuming his pride and his relationship to Dennis haven't been too hurt in the affair.

[trinidefender]

Personally I am quite excited to see Ron Dennis step back in. While he may not deal with the day to day running of the team he seems to be very pragmatic and decisive. Following on from that I would be extremely pleased to see Ross Brawn step back in with McLaren. He is, in my opinion, one of the best in the business. Matt Morris brought in from Sauber as engineering director seems like a good move as Sauber have really been pulling out some interesting concepts and ideas the last few years. I just think that they never had the funding to develop them as much as some of the bigger teams could. Hopefully he can bring some of this innovation with him for 2014/2015 and on-wards.

Sadly the person I would really like to see back in Mclaren, be it road car or F1 division, is Gordon Murray. He is off building his own automotive engineering company now and I think he stated he isn't very interested in F1 anymore. Something about his work I have always highly admired. Central seating, gold lined engine bay, amazing packaging. The design of the Mclaren F1 was a masterpiece, even now. Other name i would love to hear around the paddock is Peter Stevens, co-designer of the F1. Sadly neither of these names will likely be seen in F1 again.

[Manoah2u]

Brawn as mentioned months ago will end up at Mclaren.

To be honest.....i'm a bit biased on the Ron Dennis 'return'. Surely Ron was there when Mclaren had several championships under the belt. but it's still the same teamleader that caused displeasement for Hamilton on something as handing over the trophies to Mclaren. Hamliton freed himself from Mcl to Merc for a reason, and even though Ham won his Championship with Ron, i don't think Whitmarsh was the sole reason for that - the talks between Zetsche and Dennis on Hamilton partying with some hotties shows just that Dennis interferes with personal life of the drivers way too much, and that'll put a stamp on the members of Mclaren.

To be honest, i think Ron should've remained 'in the past'. Whitmarsh is a great person - but he isn't the man to make Mclaren WCC nor WDC. Ron has proved under his reign that both these are possible, but could they do it again today? I don't know, but I do think Mclaren needs to 're-invent' themselves and they would gain from a fresh leader. Whitmarsh is pure PR, that's it.
Can't think of a qualified person to replace whitmarsh and bring Mclaren where they should be - but i'm not that knowledged about F1 and similar sport's staff.

In any way, Mclaren probably are gonna play it safe and appoint Dennis at his former position - all to bring the elements into play for a WDC and WCC trophy under the belt for 2015 with Honda.

But it does look like someone seriously f**ked things up at Mclaren. Horribile car [perhaps the worst car of all MCL history,
didn't improve, and worse: they didn't replace it with the predecessor [like they actually did in past years when a car failed], horrible team errors that are totally unaceptable for a team of Mclaren's standard, they lost their ace driver Hamilton for Mercedes, and they've lost their Mercedes' exclusivity. The Perez' getting the boot situation smelled fishy from the start and replacing him with Magnussen makes zero sense, and there must indeed be lots more on that, they could indeed very well lost their Telmex title sponsorship there.
Jenson Button didn't seem too pleased last year and that's even more tellin because people somehow like to b*tch and whine about button while the bloke never deserved the negativity he gets, the truth is, i can't remember button being so 'disencouraged' as i've seen him last year.

It indeed looks like Ron has had enough of it and kicked in the doors to fix things. I'm sure that's the leadership mclaren does need and people need to be directed in the right direction and some shaking and stirring [a small revolution] wouldn't hurt Mclaren. I do wonder what results may come from this.

I personally never thought high of Paddy Lowe, and I think Mclaren might be better off without him.

it'll be an interesting era for mclaren as of this year........can't wait to see what it mounts up to.

[JimClarkFan]

I like Mclaren but I don't like Dennis, I might even go as far as saying I don't like Mclaren with Dennis as shogun. Dennis brings an edge to things, he is too rough, too outspoken, too argumentative, too much of an ego.

I like Martin Whitmarsh, but not as team principal. He is not decisive enough, and when he has made a judgement call they haven't been so great. However he is great PR person, one of best in the paddock, he is extremely likable and although I don't think he is a great strategist and he seems to be adept enough at politics to be extremely useful.

I think Brawn brings everything, great at technical aspect, great decision maker, great CV, but without the ego, the rough edge or the baggage.

Whitmarsh should stay, a great people person is a major asset to any team principle. Brawn with brains, technical know how and the ability to make good decisions when it counts. Brawn and Whitemarsh similar to a Mercedes setup between Toto Wolf and Brawn is ideal. Denis, to my mind is not needed.

I think Dennis coming back pretty much rules out the return of Alonso annoyingly.

[Del Boy]

I wonder. Did Ron always intend to return? Ron left i assume on the back end of the "spygate" he said it was for other resons but spygate was 2007 July time they were then fined in about sept probably paid it winter 2007 He did not want it to appear he was stepping down due to spygate so remained in charge for 2008, however realizing what damage the thing had caused mclaren had to put a new face up there so he resigned before the 2009 season was under way. Mclaren needed someone who was a pleasant guy, give Mclaren an image of this more responsible team. Witmarsh fitted that and although has not done great at bringing championships i think he has repaired allot of the damage caused in 2007. (i say this but then i remember the Hamilton overtaking under the safety car scandal, and blatant lies)

However Mclarens image has now repaired, Vodafone no longer being sponsors (could this have been a deal breaker back then? vodafone began sponsorship at the beginning of 2007 7 months in "spygate" i think vodafone deal was worth something like £500 mill to mclaren. Could they have insisted Ron step down? and now they have gone he steps back up. hmmmmmmm) The 2013 season is in my view a good excuse to get Ron back at the head of Mclaren but I think other reasons are behind it.

Great shout.

[FoxHound]

@ del boy

That makes no sense in relation to your earlier comment
"...the buck stops here".

Spygate happened on Dennis' watch. If you are going to lambast whitmarsh for happenings beyond his absolute control, how does Dennis get a free pass?

[FW17]

Sam Micheal should be the first to get the boot

[marcush.]

Ron was the driving force behind everything Mclaren as a Team achieved. He is the one besides Bruce himself who made it all happen really.
I think this is what Hondas perception is -mind you the japanese are very sensitive to things like Tradition etc...so it does fit that Mclaren has his old Gun back into Service in a time when things do not run as expected.

I´m all for it even if it´s crystal clear that Ron Dennis is a very unique character obsessed with perfection and total commitment to winning at all cost.

[Holm86]

I´m all for it even if it´s Crystal clear that Ron Dennis is an very unique character obsessed with perfection and total commitment to winning at all cost.

This is the same image I have of McLaren. And why I became a fan long time ago. Yes Bruce founded the company but Ron shaped McLaren into what it is today. Many people doesn't like McLaren because of their cold an clinic approach.

[taperoo2k]

Well I did read somewhere (can't remember where), that Ron had been pushing for the 2013 car to be scrapped and to bring back the 2012 car. Whitmarsh refused, and that's what might have been the final nail in the coffin.

I guess Ron's aim is to get McLaren back to winning in F1 as quickly as possible, as that should in theory help sell McLaren road cars.
So given how much attention to detail Ron pays to things, It would not surprise me if he already knows what the F1 side of McLarens problems are and how to remedy them. Brawn is a possibility I guess, if he just wants to deal with the politics and tactical decisions on the pitwall, leaving the technical side to Ron and co then it should work out fine. Money will not be the issue (he did rather well out of Brawn to Mercedes sale), it will be the working relationship between him and Ron that might be the barrier. But Ron is pretty pragmatic when it comes to winning, he'll do anything it takes to do so. Alonso might go to McLaren if Brawn is there and he does not have to deal with Ron directly. But that will I guess hinge on Brawn going to McLaren (sorting problems out in conjunction with Ron) and Ferrari not stepping up.

So we may get an interim TP on the McLaren pit wall if Brawn is coming (he's got 6 months of fishing, I'm willing to bet Mercedes will be stubborn about letting him join McLaren early, even though McLaren let Paddy Lowe join Mercedes earlier than expected). Whitmarsh will likely be shuffled off into another job at McLaren or he might test the waters elsewhere.

[Manoah2u]

Alonso will never ever go to Mclaren. never. Ron will still smell blood because of spygate [guess who spilled the beans, somebody wearing red]. Alonso isn't welcome at mclaren with Ron Dennis there, and i'm sure most of the personell wouldn't
have taken lightly Alonso being 'happy to uncover' the spygate issue which costed Mclaren a fine of a tenth of a billion USD.
And it would bring Flavio Briatore [Alonso's manager] into Mclaren's garage, i don't think Ron is best of friends with this guy either. After all, RenaultF1 was handed confidential tech information about Mclaren. Again, by good ol' spanish boy.
Renault were found guilty of breaching the same regulation as McLaren, but were not punished.
And guess who were at the centre of the crashgate issues? yes, Alonso and Briatore.

Mclaren getting up a fresh start after exactly this spygate affair will bring zero possibility for Alonso there, the key figure in what cost them 100million USD fine, a disqualification, and what more may be. The very thought of Alonso at Mclaren again is hilarious at best.

I don't get why anybody can seriously think Alonso even has the slightest possibility to end up at Mclaren. If Alonso were to go anywhere else but ferrari, it would be RedBull or Lotus, his good-ol 'hometown'. Alonso will end his F1 career with Ferrari, nowhere else.

[FoxHound]

Ron smells silverware. Alonso brings silverwear whether ya dig or not.
The whole Honda involvement is manna from heaven for mclaren.
They want a trusty steed to bring the pony home.
Now more than ever is the time to swallow pride and look to the future.
Alonso/Mclaren/Honda is made of very special thimgs indeed. And I reckon Ron knows it.

[marcush.]

Dennis persuaded a lot of People to do things unimaginable for others. He lured away Dr.zucker from Bosch and now Mclaren is a top brand in Terms of electronics -be it sensors ,ECUs ,data Aquisition,calibration. He made Mansour ojjeh pay for the Porsche turboengine ,buying into Mclaren ,financing the first roadcar Project F1 , got first Barnard,than Murray,then Newey to build the very best machinery ...You got to show respect for that old spannerman who was chief mechanic in Jack brabhams Team.
Starting in Motorsports with Cooper in 1966 he had his own Team (Rondel) attempting to compete in Formula 1 in 1973 ,the Project was stopped and the assets sold to Graham Hill who started his own F1team venture with that base.
but impressingly Ron was back in F1 with his Project Four Racing in 1981 taking over Mclaren in the same go.
Back then in the late 1970s I remember Rons F2 Outfit running Ralt and March machinery .The Team always had Ultra clean Paddock presence ,everything was worlds apart from the rest in Terms of presentation and professionalism....You could see them going places.Later they did the procar series preparing a fleet of BMW M1s and obviously Ron made good Connections in those days with BMW -as they later supplied a brilliant engine for the Mclaren roadcar Project...
Ron is a racer and a very very tough competitor and manager as hard to his employees as he is to himself -wich is ok but in our modern world maybe a bit unususal.