Ron Dennis ready to quit Formula One

Ron Dennis, the chairman and driving force behind McLaren Mercedes, is expected to announce today that he is standing down from all involvement with Formula One operations as part of a deal to keep Lewis Hamilton with the team.

Dennis steps down from McLaren

• Investigation into Australian grand prix forced hand• Lewis Hamilton will lose his mentorRon Dennis has stepped down as chairman of McLaren, the formula one team has confirmed. There had been continued speculation that the 61-year-old would be forced to resign his position after an investigation in the team's actions during the Australian grand prix. He did not travel to China for this weekend's race and is thought to be addressing staff at the team's Woking headquarters.Dennis has been involved in formula one for 43 years but, after what the company called "major restructuring", he has now passed on responsibility for the team to Martin Whitmarsh. "No one asked me to do it," he said. "It was my decision."The former chairman says he will now focus on the automotive side of the company, in which he owns a 15% stake, and hopes to launch a new McLaren sports car in 2011.Dennis gave up his role as team principal on 1 March, to be replaced by Whitmarsh again, and since then the team have faced difficulties after their 2009 car proved to be slower than most of those of their rivals. However it was the incident in the opening race of the season that is thought to have sparked Dennis' exit.Though Lewis Hamilton, Dennis' protégé, finished in fourth in Melbourne – before being promoted to third when Jarno Trulli was penalised by 25 seconds – he was eventually disqualified. Tapes of race conversations with the pit lane showed that the British driver had been instructed to allow Trulli past and further investigation concluded that McLaren had provided "evidence deliberately misleading to the stewards".The investigation into the affair is continuing after Hamilton claimed he was told not to tell the race stewards about the comments of his team director Dave Ryan, who has been sacked. There is a World Motor Sport Council hearing scheduled for 29 April, at which further sanctions are expected.Formula oneLewis HamiltonMcLarenMotor sportguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Lewis Hamilton Q&A

''We are getting there as a team'' Heikki Kovalainen and Lewis Hamilton brought points home last Sunday at the conclusion of the drenched Chinese Grand Prix when they crossed the finish line in fifth and sixth positions...  

Flavio Briatore and Ron Dennis issue threat to boycott race

Bernie Ecclestone has had much on his plate in recent weeks but, even by Formula One’s standards, a meeting at his London office last week was unusual. The Times can reveal that two team principals got so hot under the collar about money that they claim he owes them that they threatened to organise a boycott of the opening race of the season in Melbourne on Sunday.

Dennis writes off Hamilton's chances

• Former team principle focuses on 2010 title fight• 'Brawn will win a lot of races' says Ron DennisRon Dennis yesterday all but wrote off Lewis Hamilton's chances of a successful defence of his world title only two races into the new formula one season.McLaren has suffered what its former team principal described as a "torrid" first two grands prix, with Hamilton disqualified in Australia and picking up only a single championship point in Malaysia's truncated race. His team-mate, Heikki ­Kovalainen, has yet to complete a circuit.That has led Dennis, who yesterday confirmed he had left ­motor sport altogether, to believe his team is suffering for its efforts in landing the title last year, a tussle with Ferrari that went to the final race. The new Brawn Racing team has taken advantage of this year's rule changes, with Jenson Button winning the first two races. Now Dennis, who stood down as team principal in favour of Martin Whitmarsh earlier this year, fears the title is already out of ­Hamilton's reach."After all that's happened this season people seem to be forgetting that we've got the numbers one and two on our cars," Dennis said. "They might not be next year, but we will do everything we can to make it happen again in two years."I'm absolutely distraught about the lack of performance of our grand prix cars. Look at Ferrari and McLaren, fighting tooth and nail to win last year's championship. Brawn will win a lot of races because of the competition having to focus on ­winning the championship last year."Hamilton's frustrations with his team's performance this season extend beyond the sluggishness of his car. Tensions between Dennis and Anthony Hamilton, the driver's father and agent, grew when the world champion was found to have lied to stewards at the Melbourne grand prix under ­orders from Dave Ryan, who has since been sacked as sporting director.But despite that friction, which has led to reports linking Hamilton with a move to Ferrari, Dennis yesterday backed the 24-year-old to win more world titles with McLaren. "Lewis has a contract and it's a long contract," he said. "He's been very fortunate always to be in a competitive McLaren. This is motor racing. Sometimes companies give you a competitive racing car, sometimes they don't."Dennis's departure has certainly strengthened the position of Whitmarsh, who yesterday admitted for the first time that he had offered his resignation as team principal immediately after the Malaysian grand prix, on the back of the "Liargate" scandal.The McLaren board of directors declined his offer to quit after 20 years with the team. Yet there is an unspoken feeling ahead of the FIA's inquiry on 29 April that the change in management structure may help to appease the sport's governing body."I think anyone who has looked at the relationship between McLaren and the FIA over the last few years would have to conclude that it would be healthier for all of us to have a more positive, constructive relationship than perhaps we've had in the past," Whitmarsh said yesterday in Shanghai. "Whilst I don't want to get into it, in fairness to Ron, he 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."Whitmarsh denied that either Lewis Hamilton or his father had forced the change in team management because they were unhappy with the way the matter had been handled and they had threatened to leave McLaren."Personally, I've found Lewis and Anthony to be very supportive through what has been a very difficult time," Whitmarsh said. "They have been with the team a long time and I can see no reason why that will not continue for a long time. There is a mix of emotions; I think Lewis had some sadness about it as well because he has a long-standing relationship with Ron, so it's a mixture of things. And it is the same with all of us.We've got some sadness at the situation, but at the same time it's an opportunity for some of us to either step up to the plate and get the job done or fail. If we are honest about it, there has got to be a tinge of excitement in that as well."Lewis HamiltonMcLarenBrawnFormula oneMotor sportguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

McLaren get suspended race ban

• World motor sport council suspends three-race ban• 'Change in culture' helps draw line under incidentMcLaren were fortunate to get away with a suspended three-race ban today when the world motor sport council passed judgment on the team's admission that they had lied to race stewards. Lewis Hamilton has avoided further punishment following his disqualification from the Australian grand prix and can focus on the remainder of the season, starting with the Spanish grand prix on 10 May.In a statement the council said: "Having regard to the open and honest way in which [the] McLaren team principal, Mr Martin Whitmarsh, addressed the WMSC and the change in culture which he made clear has taken place in his organisation, the WMSC decided to suspend the application of the penalty it deems appropriate."That penalty is a suspension of the team from three races of the FIA formula one world championship. This will be applied only if further facts emerge regarding the case or if, in the next 12 months, there is a further breach by the team of article 151 (c) of the International Sporting Code."McLaren pleaded guilty on all five counts of breaching the ISC in relation to fraudulent conduct and acts prejudicial to the sport. Hamilton had been promoted from fourth to third place in Australia after Toyota's Jarno Trulli had been judged to have overtaken his McLaren when running behind the safety car. When pit-to-car radio transmissions later revealed that Hamilton had been ordered to let the Toyota overtake, both the reigning world champion and the then McLaren race director, Dave Ryan, continued to deny, at a meeting with the race stewards four days later in Malaysia, that the manoeuvre had been an orchestrated tactical ploy.Within 48 hours Ryan had been sacked after 34 years with the team and Hamilton admitted he had been economical with the truth. On 16 April Ron Dennis, the man behind McLaren's 10 drivers' championships since 1981, stood down as chief executive of McLaren Racing, leaving Martin Whitmarsh in charge after 20 years as his right-hand man. Dennis said his move to the automotive side of the company had nothing to do with the case and denied it was a sop to the FIA and its president, Max Mosley, with whom he had a long-standing and fractious relationship.Whitmarsh, whose offer of resignation was rejected by the McLaren board, began an immediate damage-control campaign that included a letter of profuse apology to the FIA. This appears to have played its part in reducing a punishment that, at worst, could have excluded the team from the 2009 championship. One of the key aspects of the WMSC statement is the reference to "the change in culture" within McLaren. That significant transformation began with the departure of Dennis and the latest example was Whitmarsh's lone appearance at today's hearing,for­going the customary team of lawyers that might have accompanied him.Whitmarsh, who celebrated his 51st birthday today, said: "I would like to thank the FIA world motor sport council members for affording me the opportunity to answer their questions this morning. We are aware that we made serious mistakes in Australia and Malaysia and I was therefore very glad to be able to apologise for those mistakes once again. I was also pleased to be able to assure the FIA WMSC members that we had taken appropriate action with a view to ensuring that such mistakes do not occur again."Given the trauma which ensued and its effect on Hamilton, such mistakes are unlikely to be repeated. Whitmarsh and the team can put a very difficult month behind them and continue to build on their much needed improvement in performance that gave Hamilton fourth place in Bahrain on Sunday. The resurrecting of McLaren's once-proud reputation may take longer, particularly after this affair ripped apart wounds that had only just begun to heal following the much more serious Ferrari spy scandal in 2007.Unlike his predecessor Whitmarsh has learned lessons from two years ago and the only significant casualty on this occasion appears to have been Ryan. Only McLaren know why an employee with an impeccable reputation of 34 years' standing should take it upon himself to engage in a form of subterfuge that was so blatant and basic. Given the former ethic of rigid control and now questionable claims of integrity espoused by Dennis – who was present in Melbourne – it might be fair to assume that the departure of the two men from the team is not unconnected.Formula oneMcLarenLewis HamiltonMotor sportguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds