Reshuffle at McLaren to ensure driver equality

Jenson Button is to benefit from a behind-the-scenes reshuffle at McLaren as the team strive to guarantee equality between their two drivers.

McLaren to buy back Mercedes holding

Mercedes-Benz parent company Daimler AG will have stakes in two Formula 1 teams next season, with a majority shareholding in Brawn GP coming into effect while its 40% stake in McLaren Racing is set to be bought out by the McLaren Group over the coming year...  

Renault rage at McLaren wing design

• Renault's Bob Bell accuses McLaren of 'starting new arms race'• Rivals angry after car gains FIA approvalRenault have accused McLaren of driving "a cart horse through the spirit" of Formula One with their new rear wing even though it has been approved by the sport's ruling body."It is fundamentally clear that the McLaren wing design is totally illegal," Bob Bell, Renault's managing director Bob Bell told the BBC after the first practice session of the season at the Bahrain grand prix today."They have driven a cart horse through the spirit of the rules and regulations," said Bell. "They have opened up another arms race, it's going to cost everybody a lot of money. The governing bodies need to be a lot stronger with these things."Renault themselves are competing under a suspended permanent ban after the race-fixing controversy that cast a shadow over last season.The McLaren car passed inspections yesterday at the Sakhir circuit and the team maintained that they consulted the FIA, Formula One's governing body, throughout the design process.Patrick Head, the Williams co-owner and engineering director, told Reuters that the rear wing had a slot that appeared to be fed by a duct that the McLaren drivers Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton could block at will by body movement."I understand that [race director] Charlie [Whiting] is saying that article three of the regulations that would limit something like that don't apply to the driver, only to the car," he said. "But I do remember when our active ride car was banned, it was banned on the grounds that a piston in the strut was moving and by virtue of doing so was influencing the aerodynamic performance of the car. "What I'm told Charlie is saying is that Lewis or Jenson's knee, or whatever it is, is not part of the car."It is a bit of a problem because if one car is suddenly able to gain five or six km an hour on the straight then we've all got to do it," he added.He speculated that drivers might conceivably drive one-handed down the straight with the other hand covering the flow of air through a hole in the cockpit to secure an aerodynamic advantage.The Red Bull team manager Christian Horner said: "The FIA have looked at it and deemed it to be okay. It's therefore a clever design rather than an illegal design. The question is, is the driver part of the car? They deem him not to be."Inevitably now there will be a wild goose chase of all the teams chasing that loophole. We have to come up with another solution. Anything's possible."Asked if there would be a protest, Horner added: "I don't know. We're happy with the verdict from the FIA. We wanted clarity and we have that."Formula OneRenaultMcLarenMotor sportguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

McLaren unveils £150,000 super car

Ron Dennis will oversee production in new £40m Woking facility after he quit carmaker's Formula One team last yearRon Dennis, the boss of McLaren, insisted today he had "moved on" from Formula One as he launched the company's new super car.Production of the road car, the MP4-12C, which will cost about £150,000, will start next year at a new £40m facility at the company's futuristic headquarters in Woking, creating 300 jobs.McLaren Automotive, which is planning more new models, is hoping to eventually sell 4,000 cars worldwide each year. The company has made limited numbers of more expensive super cars in the past, but never this many.Speaking to the Guardian, Dennis admitted he had expected withdrawal symptoms at the Australian grand prix last spring, his first after quitting the sport."I was full of expectation in Australia last year that I would go and get some sort of withdrawal," the 62-year-old said. "But I don't have to watch every minute of a grand prix even when I'm not there. It's part of my life and it's not gone but I've moved on to bigger challenges."Nevertheless, he retains a strong attachment to the sport which he dominated for decades. Looking out from his office, over a lake and towards the field where the new production facility will be constructed, he said a tunnel would be built to connect the two sites, carrying what he calls "umbilical cords" such as IT lines.Dennis, whose fortune the Sunday Times last year estimated at £87m, is clearly proud about McLaren's achievements in F1, making it the sport's second most successful team after Ferrari. Asked if he was worried that McLaren's push into larger-scale manufacturing was a risk, given the demise of other iconic British sports car manufacturers such as TVR, he said: "I don't want to be in any way derogatory to the business models of any of the other small car manufacturers. I never saw them in any grand prix or have any success in the motor sport it represents."He also hit back at speculation that he had been forced to pass on the reins of the F1 team after McLaren was fined $100m (£65m) by its governing body, run by Max Mosley, over the 2007 "spygate" saga. He insisted he had been planning his move for some time."The story is I'm afraid heavily spun. My plan was always to pass team principal to Martin [Whitmarsh] at the beginning of 2009. Even if you're reluctantly pushed on to a pedestal then there's nothing more certain that the same people pushing you on to the pedestal will take every opportunity to rip you off it," he said.Automotive industryManufacturing sectorMcLarenFerrariFormula OneTim Webbguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Hamilton delighted by McLaren's latest design

Lewis Hamilton had his first taste here yesterday of the McLaren he hopes will carry him to the world championship this season, and pronounced himself satisfied.

Hamilton has faith in new McLaren

Lewis Hamilton is hoping to avoid a repeat of last year's pre-season "disaster" that wrecked his chances of retaining his Formula One title.