Goodbye Ron

[N4D13]

Autosport is reporting that Ron Dennis will be leaving McLaren next week as the other shareholders have moved against him after a failed takeover attempt from Dennis.

I have very little sympathy for the man, but even I need to acknowledge that he's been a major player in F1 for over thirty years and it's rather hard to find anyone who doesn't respect him. I can only wonder if this is going to be a final goodbye or just a "see you later", but things don't look too rosy for him.

[Nitrodaze]

Autosport is reporting that Ron Dennis will be leaving McLaren next week as the other shareholders have moved against him after a failed takeover attempt from Dennis.

I have very little sympathy for the man, but even I need to acknowledge that he's been a major player in F1 for over thirty years and it's rather hard to find anyone who doesn't respect him. I can only wonder if this is going to be a final goodbye or just a "see you later", but things don't look too rosy for him.

I think Mclaren issued a statement that Ron Dennis shall remain in charge for the moment. Sky F1 was saying that his term as Executive Chair of Mclaren F1 part of the company ends in January 2017. There has always been plans for him to step back to let Jost Capito the new CEO to pick up the reins.

That said, the cloak and daggers in the Mclaren boardroom would suggest that he has fallen out with the other shareholders. Being a minority shareholder, he may be ousted from the role of Executive Chairman. But you have to ask yourself, who would they find with Ron Dennis's deep passion for Mclaren's success to replace him.

I think Mclaren would be shooting themselves in the foot to make such a change at this stage of the development of the Mclaren-Honda partnership.

[Tazio]

Ba-bye :wave:

[henners88]

All good things come to an end and Ron is McLaren in all reality. He's getting on a bit and has plenty in the bank so it's probably time to enjoy his retirement and reflect on a fantastic career. If he goes in January I wish him all the best.

[AndyL]

I guess the new CEO Jost Capito is not going to be ruling the F1 team with a rod of iron like Ron has, which means Eric Boullier has to step up and take more responsibility. I wonder how that will turn out. It will be a very different McLaren anyway.

[Nitrodaze]

It is official, Ron Dennis has been relieved of his position. But a replacement has not been found. Hence, Mclaren would be managed in the interim by an executive committee.

As a Mclaren fan, this seems to be a decision driven by emotion rather than objectivity. It would seem the whole thing was a result of acrimonious delibrations, which is great shame really for Mclaren fans and staff. A more respectful departure would have shown that there was a bigger person or wiser head involved.

Like a very wise man said recently [Bernie Ecclestone], for every ten decisions to be made, a committee would get nine of ten wrong and an individual would get eight out of ten right.

I really hope this decision do not spell woes for Mclaren F1 in the future to come. That said there are some very good people in the outfit, hence l have hope that it would work itself out in the end.

[airshifter]

I can't agree more Nitrodaze. It just seems so wrong to me that a name that has been associated for so long as being a driving force in the team is just dismissed in this manner. Though the team has had and retains a number of highly talented individuals, Ron was quite a driving force in the team, and has seen them through the good and the bad.

I suspect that a number of teams might take the opportunity in hopes that he will take his skill set elsewhere and support a team that strongly supports him.

[AndyL]

It's hard to imagine a replacement who would drive the team with the same single-minded obsession that Ron had.

[henners88]

I can't agree more Nitrodaze. It just seems so wrong to me that a name that has been associated for so long as being a driving force in the team is just dismissed in this manner. Though the team has had and retains a number of highly talented individuals, Ron was quite a driving force in the team, and has seen them through the good and the bad.

I suspect that a number of teams might take the opportunity in hopes that he will take his skill set elsewhere and support a team that strongly supports him.

I think that depends on Ron as he's nearly 70 years old. He may do a Bernie and work into his mid 80's or it might be time to end an admiral career. I've always admired Dennis even if he's not everybody's cup of tea.


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