Ron Dennis is out as chairman and chief executive of McLaren and has been placed on paid administrative leave until his contract expires at the end of the year.Dennis, who will retain his 25 percent stake in McLaren Technology Group, had been under ever-increasing pressure from his Saudi-born business partner Mansour Ojjeh, who also has a 25 percent share, and the Bahrain sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat, which owns the remaining 50 percent.
“I am disappointed that the representatives of TAG and Mumtalakat, the other main shareholders in McLaren, have forced through this decision to place me on (administrative) leave, despite the strong warnings from the rest of the management team about the potential consequences of their actions on the business,” Dennis, 69, said. “The grounds they have stated are entirely spurious; my management style is the same as it has always been and is one that has enabled McLaren to become an automotive and technology group that has won 20 Formula 1 world championships and grown into a ($1 billion)-a-year business.
“Throughout that time, I have worked closely with a series of talented colleagues to keep McLaren at the cutting edge of technology, to whom I will always be extremely grateful.”
The move will see Dennis end his 35-year association with the McLaren brand: a period that has seen McLaren win 10 drivers’ world championships with Niki Lauda (1984), Alain Prost (1985, 1986 and 1989), Ayrton Senna (1988, 1990 and 1991), Mika Hakkinen (1998, 1999) and Lewis Hamilton (2008), along with seven constructors’ titles.
Since successfully overseeing Lewis Hamilton’s maiden world championship in 2008, Dennis has failed to return the team to the top of the pile, and the current run of 18 years without a constructors’ title is the longest in team history.
It is believed that a major factor in the decision was Dennis’ inability to attract a title sponsor after the loss of Vodafone in 2013 and the rushed move to introduce the Honda power units in 2015 — a year before Honda had originally wanted to take to the track.
McLaren’s last Formula 1 win was the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix, and the team has only reached the podium once since — Kevin Magnussen and Jenson Button finishing in second and third, respectively, in the 2014 Australian Grand Prix.
Dennis left his post with a final parting shot, which was aimed straight at the McLaren board.
“Ultimately, it has become clear to me through this process that neither TAG nor Mumtalakat share my vision for McLaren and its true growth potential,” he said. “But my first concern is to the business I have built and to its 3,500 employees. I will continue to use my significant shareholding in both companies and my seats on both boards to protect the interests and value of McLaren and help shape its future.”