Ron Dennis
Encyclopedia
Ronald "Ron" Dennis CBE
(born 1 June 1947) is the executive chairman of McLaren Automotive
and McLaren Group
, and is also a significant shareholder in both companies. He was also the team principal of McLaren, the group's Formula One
team, until 2009.
Since 1981, Dennis had been the team principal of the McLaren Formula One team, and was instrumental in transforming the outfit into a regular world championship contender. Constructors' and drivers' world championships were won with Niki Lauda
, Alain Prost
, Ayrton Senna
, Mika Häkkinen
and Lewis Hamilton
. Dennis has a "tense" relationship with, and a reported dislike for, former FIA
president Max Mosley
.
In January 2007, Dennis sold half of his 30 percent shareholding in the McLaren Group to the Bahraini Mumtalakat Holding Company, leaving him with a 15 percent share. In 2009, Dennis, together with co-owners Mansour Ojjeh
's TAG Group and the Bahraini Mumtalakat Holding Company, bought back Daimler AG's 40 per cent shareholding in a deal that will be concluded in 2011.
Ron Dennis was placed at number 648 in the Sunday Times Rich List 2006 with a net worth of £90 million, however The Times put his wealth at £200 million in 2009. In the Sunday TImes Rich List 2011, Dennis' net worth is estimated to be £177M.
, England
, Dennis began working for the Cooper
Formula One
team in 1966 at the age of 18 where he worked alongside lead driver Jochen Rindt
. In 1968 Rindt moved to Brabham and took Dennis with him. For the 1969 season Rindt moved to Team Lotus
; however, Dennis stayed on, choosing instead to work for Sir Jack Brabham
.
When Brabham chose retirement in 1971, Dennis and his colleague Neil Trundle decided to start their own team. In 1971, Rondel Racing
was founded in Dennis's native Woking
. By the mid-1970s the team was enjoying considerable success in Formula Two. Rondel aspired to be more than a customer team, however, and Dennis soon managed to find a backer (Motul) to fund a Rondel F2 car. For 1974, a Ray Jessop-designed F1 car was planned but the energy crisis
affected racing severely and the car was completed by other hands and raced as the Token and later the Safir.
Dennis regrouped, forming a Marlboro-backed F2 team for two talented and well-sponsored drivers from Ecuador
. In 1975 Dennis founded the Project Three team, and his cars once again became race winners. In the late 1970s, Dennis founded Project Four. This team went on to great success in Formula 2 and Formula 3, winning championships in 1979 and 1980 with Philip Morris
(Marlboro) backing. Project Four also participated in the build programme for Procar BMW M1
racing cars. As his business interests became increasingly successful and lucrative, Dennis aspired to return to Formula One, hiring talented designer John Barnard
to spearhead the design and development of an innovative new F1 car.
Dennis's return to Formula One was well-timed. The recent poor performance of the former world championship-winning McLaren team had prompted Philip Morris executive John Hogan
to initiate a takeover of the outfit by Dennis's Project Four operation. Effectively a reverse takeover
, it heralded the arrival of the rebranded McLaren International operation and ultimately placed the thirty-four year old in full control of the outfit. In addition to hiring Barnard to begin work on the team's revolutionary new carbon fibre composite chassis, the MP4/1
, Dennis also successfully recruited the Porsche
automobile firm to build the cars' engines from 1984-87.
The 'MP4' designation originally stood for Marlboro Project Four (the MP4/1 design was complete before the merger). The numbering system has been retained until the present time (the 2008 car is known as the McLaren MP4-23). After the change of title sponsor in 1997, the same abbreviation was retained, with the 'M' now standing for McLaren.
. Even in those early days Dennis recognised the young Frenchman's potential but was unable to prevent him moving to the Renault
team for 1981, a season that saw McLaren once again winning races. The year also saw many other teams struggling to duplicate Barnard
's revolutionary chassis.
In 1981 Dennis and his business partners bought out the other McLaren shareholders, Teddy Mayer
and Tyler Alexander. In 1983 Dennis persuaded then-Williams backer Mansour Ojjeh
to become a partner in McLaren International. Ojjeh invested in Porsche
-built turbocharged engines which carried the name of his company, Techniques d'Avant Garde
(TAG
).
Dennis then persuaded the retired Niki Lauda
to return to Formula One and at the 1982 South African Grand Prix
the double World Champion lined up alongside Watson at the start of the season. By the end of the year both drivers had secured two victories and 1983 began with more success with Watson's United States Grand Prix
win. No more victories followed that year but Lauda debuted the Porsche-powered MP4-1E interim chassis at that season's Dutch Grand Prix. By the following race, the Italian Grand Prix
, both cars were powered by turbocharged engines: McLaren-Ford had become McLaren-TAG. Convinced by his initial investment, Ojjeh became the major investor in McLaren, taking 60 per cent of the shares. By the end of the year, Alain Prost
, now a race winner at Renault F1
, had been signed to replace Watson. With the experienced Lauda at his side, everything was set for a title challenge in 1984.
In just four years Dennis had turned McLaren from an also-ran team into a front-runner and in 1984, with Barnard's revolutionary MP4/2
car his work was rewarded with 12 wins from 16 races from and both drivers' and constructors' titles. Lauda took the drivers' crown by a half point from his McLaren team-mate Prost, with both drivers scoring more than double the tally of third-placed Elio de Angelis
. The following year the situation was reversed and Prost beat Lauda to the drivers' title. McLaren finished eight points ahead of second-placed Ferrari
that year but the pack was closing and in 1986, McLaren lost out to Williams, although the consistent Prost won the drivers' title.
By 1987 it was clear that the TAG engine was no longer competitive in the face of increased manufacturer involvement, and so Dennis approached Honda, who were at the time supplying rivals Williams and Lotus. Williams' unwillingness to accept a Japanese driver (Satoru Nakajima) led Honda to transfer their engine supply to the McLaren team. Dennis further strengthened his team by signing Brazilian Ayrton Senna
(who had developed a close relationship with Honda while at Lotus in 1987) to partner double champion Prost.
In 1988 McLaren was supremely dominant, even when compared to the superiority it had experienced in 1984, taking 15 of the 16 races and both titles with no real opposition. It was behind the scenes that Dennis's political manoeuvering was most required. Dennis masterfully kept the drivers focused on racing, yet it could not last. Prost was highly skilled, "the professor": Senna was volatile but brilliant. Their pairing had always been a recipe for conflict.
By mid-1989 it was becoming impossible to pacify the two warring drivers. Following a fall-out in the aftermath of a broken promise between them at the 1989 San Marino GP, Senna and Prost collided in Suzuka, handing that year's title to Prost. Subsequently, Prost left the team for Ferrari and was replaced by Gerhard Berger
for the following season.
taking back-to-back titles in 1990 and 1991. McLaren signed the promising newcomer Mika Häkkinen
as a test driver at the end of 1992, but by 1992 Williams was once more in the ascendancy. McLaren was not to win another title for seven years. With the loss of Honda power in 1993, Dennis was left haggling with Ford
and Ford's works team Benetton
for a supply of competitive engines. A disappointing partnership with Peugeot
in 1994 failed to yield the expected results and left Dennis searching to find a fourth engine partner in as many years. In October 1994 he agreed terms with Mercedes-Benz
to supply engines from 1995 onwards, an association that continues to this day.
For the first couple of seasons the McLaren-Mercedes relationship was difficult, with the inevitable teething troubles that always come with a new engine, indifferent chassis, and the odd choice of a driver for 1995 in the aging Nigel Mansell
. Mansell did not even fit into the car at the start of 1995 (Mark Blundell
deputised) and even when a revised chassis was produced Mansell's performances were not successful. Mika Häkkinen
gradually assumed leadership of the team but suffered severe head injuries in a crash at the end of the 1995 season, from which he eventually made a complete recovery.
By the mid-1990s Dennis was once more guiding his team towards domination of the sport, and in 1996 he approached Williams's star designer Adrian Newey
to become technical director of McLaren. Newey agreed, and in 1998 McLaren took both the drivers' and the constructors' titles with Mika Häkkinen
. A second drivers' title followed in 1999, but Ferrari
took the constructors' title.
In 2001 Dennis was faced with a crisis amongst his staff when Jaguar
boss Bobby Rahal
attempted to lure Newey from McLaren. Details of how Dennis convinced Newey to stay have remained extremely vague but rumours in the specialist motor racing press suggested a deal allowing the designer to work on racing yacht
s. In the same year, team leader Mika Häkkinen
announced that he was to leave the sport. Faced with the loss of his double world champion star driver, Dennis signed another Finn
, Kimi Räikkönen
.
In 2005 Dennis remained at the top of the sport following a poor year in 2004. Despite producing their strongest performance for several years and winning more grands prix than any of their rivals, McLaren were narrowly beaten in both championships by the Renault F1
team. A further blow was the announcement that Adrian Newey was to join Red Bull Racing
from the start of 2006.
In December 2005, McLaren announced a title sponsorship deal with Vodafone
estimated to be worth £500 million and the signing of World Champion Fernando Alonso
, both to begin in 2007. In the interim, McLaren had a difficult 2006 season
, failing to win a race for the first time since the 1996 season
. Halfway through the 2006 season, McLaren gave up on perfecting their current car and the team focused on the 2007 MP4-22 car. The start of the 2007 season saw McLaren in top condition, with only Ferrari
as a challenger for the world championships. The McLarens became the cars to beat, with both drivers, Fernando Alonso
and Lewis Hamilton
, in the race for the drivers' championship. However, the team suffered throughout the season from the in-fighting between Alonso and Hamilton.
In the Alonso vs. Hamilton conflict, Dennis always advocated treating his two drivers equally. However, after the 2007 Chinese Grand Prix
, he said "We weren't racing Kimi, we were basically racing Fernando." The Times said his comments "made a nonsense of his claims to be treating his drivers equitably in the World Championship run-in" but the team's insistence on parity until the very final race in Brazil underlined Dennis's core philosophy even if it ultimately lost the team the world championship.
Ron Dennis announced on 16 January that he would be stepping down as McLaren's team principal on 1 March, to be replaced by Martin Whitmarsh
. On 16 April 2009 Dennis handed over complete control of the McLaren F1 team to Whitmarsh, citing a desire to pursue new challenges, especially focusing on the McLaren road car.
On 17 November 2011 Prime Minister David Cameron
formally opened the McLaren
Production Centre, a new building that sits alongside the existing McLaren
Technology Centre. "I want this country to be respected for what we make, as well as the services we provide," said the Prime Minister. "McLaren
, in breaking new ground, are a powerful rebuke to those who say the manufacturing base has gone. Visits to places like this make me optimistic that we can in time ride out this storm and come out stronger."
will be put into production in 2011. The company will complete the buy-back of Mercedes' 40 per cent stake by 2011.
However while acknowledging that the term has been used to criticise Dennis, the former editor-in-chief of F1 Racing
, Matt Bishop
, who now works for McLaren
as Group Head of Communications and Public Relations, argues that "Ronspeak" is not a vice; rather, it is informative and accurate. Dennis, in describing Fernando Alonso's contribution to the McLaren team's development, said his experience and ability "[prevented] an F1 team from going down [time wasting] technical cul-de-sacs - and as a result, car-developmental progress becomes more linear." Bishop described this as a prime example of Ronspeak, hailing it as "logical, informative and insightful. [but also] careful... in that what it doesn't do is compare Alonso's exceptional all-round ability with that of his predecessors."
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(born 1 June 1947) is the executive chairman of McLaren Automotive
McLaren Automotive
McLaren Automotive, commonly referred to as McLaren, is a British automotive manufacturer of high-performance vehicles. The company was established as McLaren Cars in 1989 as a producer of road cars based on Formula One technology...
and McLaren Group
McLaren Group
The McLaren Group, based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England, is a group of companies created by Ron Dennis, described by the International Herald Tribune as "a small conglomerate"...
, and is also a significant shareholder in both companies. He was also the team principal of McLaren, the group's Formula One
Formula One
Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...
team, until 2009.
Since 1981, Dennis had been the team principal of the McLaren Formula One team, and was instrumental in transforming the outfit into a regular world championship contender. Constructors' and drivers' world championships were won with Niki Lauda
Niki Lauda
Andreas Nikolaus "Niki" Lauda is an Austrian former Formula One racing driver and three-time F1 World Champion. More recently an aviation entrepreneur, he has founded and run two airlines and was manager of the Jaguar Formula One racing team for two years.- Early years in racing :Born in Vienna,...
, Alain Prost
Alain Prost
Alain Marie Pascal Prost, OBE, Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur is a French racing driver. A four-time Formula One Drivers' Champion, Prost has won more titles than any driver except for Juan Manuel Fangio , and Michael Schumacher . From 1987 until 2001 Prost held the record for most Grand Prix...
, Ayrton Senna
Ayrton Senna
Ayrton Senna da Silva was a Brazilian racing driver. A three-time Formula One world champion, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest F1 drivers of all time...
, Mika Häkkinen
Mika Häkkinen
Mika Pauli Häkkinen is a Finnish racing driver and two-time Formula One World Champion...
and Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton, MBE is a British Formula One racing driver from England, currently racing for the McLaren team. He was the Formula One World Champion.Hamilton was born in Stevenage, Hertfordshire...
. Dennis has a "tense" relationship with, and a reported dislike for, former FIA
Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile
The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile is a non-profit association established as the Association Internationale des Automobile Clubs Reconnus on 20 June 1904 to represent the interests of motoring organisations and motor car users...
president Max Mosley
Max Mosley
Max Rufus Mosley is the former president of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile , a non-profit association that represents the interests of motoring organisations and car users worldwide...
.
In January 2007, Dennis sold half of his 30 percent shareholding in the McLaren Group to the Bahraini Mumtalakat Holding Company, leaving him with a 15 percent share. In 2009, Dennis, together with co-owners Mansour Ojjeh
Mansour Ojjeh
Mansour Akram Ojjeh is a French Saudi Arabia-born entrepreneur who owns part of TAG, a Luxembourg-based holding company with interests worldwide. Ojjeh is the CEO of TAG which owns 21% of the McLaren Group, the most important asset of which is the McLaren Formula One team.-References:*...
's TAG Group and the Bahraini Mumtalakat Holding Company, bought back Daimler AG's 40 per cent shareholding in a deal that will be concluded in 2011.
Ron Dennis was placed at number 648 in the Sunday Times Rich List 2006 with a net worth of £90 million, however The Times put his wealth at £200 million in 2009. In the Sunday TImes Rich List 2011, Dennis' net worth is estimated to be £177M.
Early life
Born and raised in WokingWoking
Woking is a large town and civil parish that shares its name with the surrounding local government district, located in the west of Surrey, UK. It is part of the Greater London Urban Area and the London commuter belt, with frequent trains and a journey time of 24 minutes to Waterloo station....
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, Dennis began working for the Cooper
Cooper Car Company
The Cooper Car Company was founded in 1946 by Charles Cooper and his son John Cooper. Together with John's boyhood friend, Eric Brandon, they began by building racing cars in Charles' small garage in Surbiton, Surrey, England in 1946...
Formula One
Formula One
Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...
team in 1966 at the age of 18 where he worked alongside lead driver Jochen Rindt
Jochen Rindt
Karl Jochen Rindt was a German racing driver who represented Austria during his career. He is the only driver to posthumously win the Formula One World Drivers' Championship , after being killed in practice for the Italian Grand Prix...
. In 1968 Rindt moved to Brabham and took Dennis with him. For the 1969 season Rindt moved to Team Lotus
Team Lotus
Team Lotus was the motorsport sister company of English sports car manufacturer Lotus Cars. The team ran cars in many motorsport series including Formula One, Formula Two, Formula Ford, Formula Junior, IndyCar and sports car racing...
; however, Dennis stayed on, choosing instead to work for Sir Jack Brabham
Jack Brabham
Sir John Arthur "Jack" Brabham, AO, OBE is an Australian former racing driver who was Formula One champion in , and . He was a founder of the Brabham racing team and race car constructor that bore his name....
.
When Brabham chose retirement in 1971, Dennis and his colleague Neil Trundle decided to start their own team. In 1971, Rondel Racing
Rondel Racing
Rondel Racing was a British racing team that competed in the Formula Two series between 1971 and 1973. The team was founded by two ex-Brabham mechanics Ron Dennis and Neil Trundle...
was founded in Dennis's native Woking
Woking
Woking is a large town and civil parish that shares its name with the surrounding local government district, located in the west of Surrey, UK. It is part of the Greater London Urban Area and the London commuter belt, with frequent trains and a journey time of 24 minutes to Waterloo station....
. By the mid-1970s the team was enjoying considerable success in Formula Two. Rondel aspired to be more than a customer team, however, and Dennis soon managed to find a backer (Motul) to fund a Rondel F2 car. For 1974, a Ray Jessop-designed F1 car was planned but the energy crisis
1973 oil crisis
The 1973 oil crisis started in October 1973, when the members of Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries or the OAPEC proclaimed an oil embargo. This was "in response to the U.S. decision to re-supply the Israeli military" during the Yom Kippur war. It lasted until March 1974. With the...
affected racing severely and the car was completed by other hands and raced as the Token and later the Safir.
Dennis regrouped, forming a Marlboro-backed F2 team for two talented and well-sponsored drivers from Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
. In 1975 Dennis founded the Project Three team, and his cars once again became race winners. In the late 1970s, Dennis founded Project Four. This team went on to great success in Formula 2 and Formula 3, winning championships in 1979 and 1980 with Philip Morris
Philip Morris USA
Philip Morris USA is the United States tobacco division of Altria Group, Inc. Philip Morris USA brands include Marlboro, Virginia Slims, Benson and Hedges, Merit, Parliament, Alpine, Basic, Cambridge, Bucks, Dave's, Chesterfield, Collector's Choice, Commander, English Ovals, Lark, L&M, Players and...
(Marlboro) backing. Project Four also participated in the build programme for Procar BMW M1
BMW M1
The BMW M1 is a sports car that was produced by German automaker BMW from 1978 to 1981.In the late 1970s, Italian manufacturer Lamborghini entered into an agreement with BMW to build a production racing car in sufficient quantity for homologation. The result was sold to the public, from 1978 to...
racing cars. As his business interests became increasingly successful and lucrative, Dennis aspired to return to Formula One, hiring talented designer John Barnard
John Barnard
John Barnard is a race car designer and is currently working alongside Terence Woodgate designing high specification carbon fibre furniture....
to spearhead the design and development of an innovative new F1 car.
Dennis's return to Formula One was well-timed. The recent poor performance of the former world championship-winning McLaren team had prompted Philip Morris executive John Hogan
John Hogan
John Hogan may refer to:*John Hogan , American Revolutionary War soldier and politician*John Hogan , Irish sculptor, creator of The Dead Christ...
to initiate a takeover of the outfit by Dennis's Project Four operation. Effectively a reverse takeover
Reverse takeover
A reverse takeover or reverse merger is the acquisition of a public company by a private company so that the private company can bypass the lengthy and complex process of going public...
, it heralded the arrival of the rebranded McLaren International operation and ultimately placed the thirty-four year old in full control of the outfit. In addition to hiring Barnard to begin work on the team's revolutionary new carbon fibre composite chassis, the MP4/1
McLaren MP4/1
The McLaren MP4/1 was a Formula One racing car produced by the McLaren team. It was used during the 1981, 1982 and 1983 seasons...
, Dennis also successfully recruited the Porsche
Porsche
Porsche Automobil Holding SE, usually shortened to Porsche SE a Societas Europaea or European Public Company, is a German based holding company with investments in the automotive industry....
automobile firm to build the cars' engines from 1984-87.
The 'MP4' designation originally stood for Marlboro Project Four (the MP4/1 design was complete before the merger). The numbering system has been retained until the present time (the 2008 car is known as the McLaren MP4-23). After the change of title sponsor in 1997, the same abbreviation was retained, with the 'M' now standing for McLaren.
Building McLaren
Prior to Dennis's arrival at McLaren in September 1980, the team was going through a particularly uncompetitive stint. The team had last won a grand prix with James Hunt in 1977 and had finished a lowly seventh in the 1980 constructors' title with John Watson and Alain ProstAlain Prost
Alain Marie Pascal Prost, OBE, Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur is a French racing driver. A four-time Formula One Drivers' Champion, Prost has won more titles than any driver except for Juan Manuel Fangio , and Michael Schumacher . From 1987 until 2001 Prost held the record for most Grand Prix...
. Even in those early days Dennis recognised the young Frenchman's potential but was unable to prevent him moving to the Renault
Renault F1
Lotus Renault GP, formerly the Renault F1 Team, is a British Formula One racing team. The Oxfordshire-based team can trace its roots back through the Benetton team of the late 1980s and 1990s to the Toleman team of the early 1980s. Renault had also competed in various forms since , before taking...
team for 1981, a season that saw McLaren once again winning races. The year also saw many other teams struggling to duplicate Barnard
John Barnard
John Barnard is a race car designer and is currently working alongside Terence Woodgate designing high specification carbon fibre furniture....
's revolutionary chassis.
In 1981 Dennis and his business partners bought out the other McLaren shareholders, Teddy Mayer
Teddy Mayer
Edward Everett "Teddy" Mayer was an American motor racing entrepreneur who was successful in several categories of racing, including Formula One and IndyCars....
and Tyler Alexander. In 1983 Dennis persuaded then-Williams backer Mansour Ojjeh
Mansour Ojjeh
Mansour Akram Ojjeh is a French Saudi Arabia-born entrepreneur who owns part of TAG, a Luxembourg-based holding company with interests worldwide. Ojjeh is the CEO of TAG which owns 21% of the McLaren Group, the most important asset of which is the McLaren Formula One team.-References:*...
to become a partner in McLaren International. Ojjeh invested in Porsche
Porsche
Porsche Automobil Holding SE, usually shortened to Porsche SE a Societas Europaea or European Public Company, is a German based holding company with investments in the automotive industry....
-built turbocharged engines which carried the name of his company, Techniques d'Avant Garde
Techniques d'Avant Garde
TAG Group SA is a private holding company based in Luxembourg City, in southern Luxembourg. At the head is Mansour Ojjeh son of the founder of the TAG Group Akram Ojjeh, who was a wealthy Saudi entrepreneur...
(TAG
Techniques d'Avant Garde
TAG Group SA is a private holding company based in Luxembourg City, in southern Luxembourg. At the head is Mansour Ojjeh son of the founder of the TAG Group Akram Ojjeh, who was a wealthy Saudi entrepreneur...
).
Dennis then persuaded the retired Niki Lauda
Niki Lauda
Andreas Nikolaus "Niki" Lauda is an Austrian former Formula One racing driver and three-time F1 World Champion. More recently an aviation entrepreneur, he has founded and run two airlines and was manager of the Jaguar Formula One racing team for two years.- Early years in racing :Born in Vienna,...
to return to Formula One and at the 1982 South African Grand Prix
South African Grand Prix
The South African Grand Prix was first run as a Grand Prix motor racing handicap race in 1934 at the Prince George Circuit at East London, Eastern Cape Province...
the double World Champion lined up alongside Watson at the start of the season. By the end of the year both drivers had secured two victories and 1983 began with more success with Watson's United States Grand Prix
United States Grand Prix
The United States Grand Prix is a motor race which has been run on and off since 1908, when it was known as the American Grand Prize. The race later became part of the Formula One World Championship. Over 41 editions, the race has been held at nine locations, most recently in 2007 at the...
win. No more victories followed that year but Lauda debuted the Porsche-powered MP4-1E interim chassis at that season's Dutch Grand Prix. By the following race, the Italian Grand Prix
Italian Grand Prix
The Italian Grand Prix is one of the longest running events on the motor racing calendar. The first Italian Grand Prix motor racing championship took place on 4 September 1921 at Brescia...
, both cars were powered by turbocharged engines: McLaren-Ford had become McLaren-TAG. Convinced by his initial investment, Ojjeh became the major investor in McLaren, taking 60 per cent of the shares. By the end of the year, Alain Prost
Alain Prost
Alain Marie Pascal Prost, OBE, Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur is a French racing driver. A four-time Formula One Drivers' Champion, Prost has won more titles than any driver except for Juan Manuel Fangio , and Michael Schumacher . From 1987 until 2001 Prost held the record for most Grand Prix...
, now a race winner at Renault F1
Renault F1
Lotus Renault GP, formerly the Renault F1 Team, is a British Formula One racing team. The Oxfordshire-based team can trace its roots back through the Benetton team of the late 1980s and 1990s to the Toleman team of the early 1980s. Renault had also competed in various forms since , before taking...
, had been signed to replace Watson. With the experienced Lauda at his side, everything was set for a title challenge in 1984.
In just four years Dennis had turned McLaren from an also-ran team into a front-runner and in 1984, with Barnard's revolutionary MP4/2
McLaren MP4/2
-Complete Formula One results: -See also:* Williams FW11* Lotus 97T...
car his work was rewarded with 12 wins from 16 races from and both drivers' and constructors' titles. Lauda took the drivers' crown by a half point from his McLaren team-mate Prost, with both drivers scoring more than double the tally of third-placed Elio de Angelis
Elio de Angelis
Elio de Angelis was an Italian racing driver who participated in Formula One between and , racing for the Shadow, Lotus and Brabham teams. He was killed during testing at the Paul Ricard circuit at Le Castellet in 1986...
. The following year the situation was reversed and Prost beat Lauda to the drivers' title. McLaren finished eight points ahead of second-placed Ferrari
Scuderia Ferrari
Scuderia Ferrari is the racing team division of the Ferrari automobile marque. The team currently only races in Formula One but has competed in numerous classes of motorsport since its formation in 1929, including sportscar racing....
that year but the pack was closing and in 1986, McLaren lost out to Williams, although the consistent Prost won the drivers' title.
By 1987 it was clear that the TAG engine was no longer competitive in the face of increased manufacturer involvement, and so Dennis approached Honda, who were at the time supplying rivals Williams and Lotus. Williams' unwillingness to accept a Japanese driver (Satoru Nakajima) led Honda to transfer their engine supply to the McLaren team. Dennis further strengthened his team by signing Brazilian Ayrton Senna
Ayrton Senna
Ayrton Senna da Silva was a Brazilian racing driver. A three-time Formula One world champion, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest F1 drivers of all time...
(who had developed a close relationship with Honda while at Lotus in 1987) to partner double champion Prost.
In 1988 McLaren was supremely dominant, even when compared to the superiority it had experienced in 1984, taking 15 of the 16 races and both titles with no real opposition. It was behind the scenes that Dennis's political manoeuvering was most required. Dennis masterfully kept the drivers focused on racing, yet it could not last. Prost was highly skilled, "the professor": Senna was volatile but brilliant. Their pairing had always been a recipe for conflict.
By mid-1989 it was becoming impossible to pacify the two warring drivers. Following a fall-out in the aftermath of a broken promise between them at the 1989 San Marino GP, Senna and Prost collided in Suzuka, handing that year's title to Prost. Subsequently, Prost left the team for Ferrari and was replaced by Gerhard Berger
Gerhard Berger
Gerhard Berger, is an Austrian former Formula One racing driver, who previously owned 50% of the Scuderia Toro Rosso Formula One team until he sold his share back to energy drink owner Dietrich Mateschitz in November 2008....
for the following season.
The 1990s
At the start of the 1990s, McLaren continued to dominate the sport with Ayrton SennaAyrton Senna
Ayrton Senna da Silva was a Brazilian racing driver. A three-time Formula One world champion, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest F1 drivers of all time...
taking back-to-back titles in 1990 and 1991. McLaren signed the promising newcomer Mika Häkkinen
Mika Häkkinen
Mika Pauli Häkkinen is a Finnish racing driver and two-time Formula One World Champion...
as a test driver at the end of 1992, but by 1992 Williams was once more in the ascendancy. McLaren was not to win another title for seven years. With the loss of Honda power in 1993, Dennis was left haggling with Ford
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...
and Ford's works team Benetton
Benetton Formula
Benetton Formula Ltd., commonly referred to simply as Benetton, was a Formula One constructor that participated from to . The team was owned by the Benetton family who run a worldwide chain of clothing stores of the same name. In 2000 the team was purchased by Renault, but competed as Benetton for...
for a supply of competitive engines. A disappointing partnership with Peugeot
Peugeot
Peugeot is a major French car brand, part of PSA Peugeot Citroën, the second largest carmaker based in Europe.The family business that precedes the current Peugeot company was founded in 1810, and manufactured coffee mills and bicycles. On 20 November 1858, Emile Peugeot applied for the lion...
in 1994 failed to yield the expected results and left Dennis searching to find a fourth engine partner in as many years. In October 1994 he agreed terms with Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of automobiles, buses, coaches, and trucks. Mercedes-Benz is a division of its parent company, Daimler AG...
to supply engines from 1995 onwards, an association that continues to this day.
For the first couple of seasons the McLaren-Mercedes relationship was difficult, with the inevitable teething troubles that always come with a new engine, indifferent chassis, and the odd choice of a driver for 1995 in the aging Nigel Mansell
Nigel Mansell
Nigel Ernest James Mansell OBE is a British racing driver who won both the Formula One World Championship and the CART Indy Car World Series...
. Mansell did not even fit into the car at the start of 1995 (Mark Blundell
Mark Blundell
Mark Blundell is a Formula One, sports car, and CART racing driver. He was a Formula One presenter for the British broadcaster ITV until the end of the 2008 season when the TV broadcasting rights switched to the BBC....
deputised) and even when a revised chassis was produced Mansell's performances were not successful. Mika Häkkinen
Mika Häkkinen
Mika Pauli Häkkinen is a Finnish racing driver and two-time Formula One World Champion...
gradually assumed leadership of the team but suffered severe head injuries in a crash at the end of the 1995 season, from which he eventually made a complete recovery.
By the mid-1990s Dennis was once more guiding his team towards domination of the sport, and in 1996 he approached Williams's star designer Adrian Newey
Adrian Newey
Adrian Newey is a notable Formula One engineer and widely regarded one of the great engineers in the sport's history. He is the only designer to have won Constructors Championships with three different Formula One teams...
to become technical director of McLaren. Newey agreed, and in 1998 McLaren took both the drivers' and the constructors' titles with Mika Häkkinen
Mika Häkkinen
Mika Pauli Häkkinen is a Finnish racing driver and two-time Formula One World Champion...
. A second drivers' title followed in 1999, but Ferrari
Scuderia Ferrari
Scuderia Ferrari is the racing team division of the Ferrari automobile marque. The team currently only races in Formula One but has competed in numerous classes of motorsport since its formation in 1929, including sportscar racing....
took the constructors' title.
The 2000s
In 2000 Dennis was made a Commander of the British Empire.In 2001 Dennis was faced with a crisis amongst his staff when Jaguar
Jaguar Racing
Jaguar Racing was a Formula One team that competed in the FIA Formula One World Championship from 2000 to 2004. It was formed from the purchase by Ford of Jackie Stewart's Stewart Grand Prix Formula One team in June 1999. Ford renamed the team Jaguar Racing as part of its global marketing...
boss Bobby Rahal
Bobby Rahal
Robert "Bobby" Woodward Rahal is an American auto racing driver and team owner. As a driver, he won three championships and 24 races in the CART open-wheel series, including the 1986 Indianapolis 500...
attempted to lure Newey from McLaren. Details of how Dennis convinced Newey to stay have remained extremely vague but rumours in the specialist motor racing press suggested a deal allowing the designer to work on racing yacht
Yacht
A yacht is a recreational boat or ship. The term originated from the Dutch Jacht meaning "hunt". It was originally defined as a light fast sailing vessel used by the Dutch navy to pursue pirates and other transgressors around and into the shallow waters of the Low Countries...
s. In the same year, team leader Mika Häkkinen
Mika Häkkinen
Mika Pauli Häkkinen is a Finnish racing driver and two-time Formula One World Champion...
announced that he was to leave the sport. Faced with the loss of his double world champion star driver, Dennis signed another Finn
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
, Kimi Räikkönen
Kimi Räikkönen
Kimi Matias Räikkönen , nicknamed Iceman, is a Finnish racing driver, who will drive in Formula One for Lotus in . After nine seasons racing in Formula One, in which he took the Formula One World Drivers' Championship, he competed in the World Rally Championship from 2009-2011.Räikkönen entered...
.
In 2005 Dennis remained at the top of the sport following a poor year in 2004. Despite producing their strongest performance for several years and winning more grands prix than any of their rivals, McLaren were narrowly beaten in both championships by the Renault F1
Renault F1
Lotus Renault GP, formerly the Renault F1 Team, is a British Formula One racing team. The Oxfordshire-based team can trace its roots back through the Benetton team of the late 1980s and 1990s to the Toleman team of the early 1980s. Renault had also competed in various forms since , before taking...
team. A further blow was the announcement that Adrian Newey was to join Red Bull Racing
Red Bull Racing
Red Bull Racing is a Formula One racing team based in Milton Keynes, England which currently holds an Austrian licence. It is, along with Scuderia Toro Rosso, one of two teams owned by beverage company Red Bull GmbH. The team have won two Constructors' Championship titles, in and , becoming the...
from the start of 2006.
In December 2005, McLaren announced a title sponsorship deal with Vodafone
Vodafone
Vodafone Group Plc is a global telecommunications company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's largest mobile telecommunications company measured by revenues and the world's second-largest measured by subscribers , with around 341 million proportionate subscribers as of...
estimated to be worth £500 million and the signing of World Champion Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso Díaz is a Spanish Formula One racing driver and a two-time World Champion, who is currently racing for Ferrari....
, both to begin in 2007. In the interim, McLaren had a difficult 2006 season
2006 Formula One season
The 2006 Formula One season was the 57th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 2006 FIA Formula One World Championship which began on March 12 and ended on October 22 after eighteen races. The Drivers' Championship was won by Fernando Alonso of Renault F1 for the second year in a...
, failing to win a race for the first time since the 1996 season
1996 Formula One season
The 1996 Formula One season was the 47th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1996 FIA Formula One World Championship, which commenced on March 10, 1996, and ended on October 13 after sixteen races...
. Halfway through the 2006 season, McLaren gave up on perfecting their current car and the team focused on the 2007 MP4-22 car. The start of the 2007 season saw McLaren in top condition, with only Ferrari
Scuderia Ferrari
Scuderia Ferrari is the racing team division of the Ferrari automobile marque. The team currently only races in Formula One but has competed in numerous classes of motorsport since its formation in 1929, including sportscar racing....
as a challenger for the world championships. The McLarens became the cars to beat, with both drivers, Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso Díaz is a Spanish Formula One racing driver and a two-time World Champion, who is currently racing for Ferrari....
and Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton, MBE is a British Formula One racing driver from England, currently racing for the McLaren team. He was the Formula One World Champion.Hamilton was born in Stevenage, Hertfordshire...
, in the race for the drivers' championship. However, the team suffered throughout the season from the in-fighting between Alonso and Hamilton.
In the Alonso vs. Hamilton conflict, Dennis always advocated treating his two drivers equally. However, after the 2007 Chinese Grand Prix
2007 Chinese Grand Prix
The 2007 Chinese Grand Prix was the sixteenth race of the 2007 Formula One season. It was held on 5–7 October at Shanghai International Circuit, Shanghai, China. The race was won by Ferrari's Kimi Räikkönen with Fernando Alonso finishing second and Felipe Massa finishing third...
, he said "We weren't racing Kimi, we were basically racing Fernando." The Times said his comments "made a nonsense of his claims to be treating his drivers equitably in the World Championship run-in" but the team's insistence on parity until the very final race in Brazil underlined Dennis's core philosophy even if it ultimately lost the team the world championship.
Ron Dennis announced on 16 January that he would be stepping down as McLaren's team principal on 1 March, to be replaced by Martin Whitmarsh
Martin Whitmarsh
Martin Whitmarsh is the CEO of McLaren Racing, a subsidiary company of the McLaren Group and Chief Operating Officer of that group, as well as Team Principal of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, following Ron Dennis' retirement on 1 March 2009...
. On 16 April 2009 Dennis handed over complete control of the McLaren F1 team to Whitmarsh, citing a desire to pursue new challenges, especially focusing on the McLaren road car.
On 17 November 2011 Prime Minister David Cameron
David Cameron
David William Donald Cameron is the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service and Leader of the Conservative Party. Cameron represents Witney as its Member of Parliament ....
formally opened the McLaren
McLaren
McLaren Racing Limited, trading as Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, is a British Formula One team based in Woking, Surrey, United Kingdom. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor but has also competed and won in the Indianapolis 500 and Canadian-American Challenge Cup...
Production Centre, a new building that sits alongside the existing McLaren
McLaren
McLaren Racing Limited, trading as Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, is a British Formula One team based in Woking, Surrey, United Kingdom. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor but has also competed and won in the Indianapolis 500 and Canadian-American Challenge Cup...
Technology Centre. "I want this country to be respected for what we make, as well as the services we provide," said the Prime Minister. "McLaren
McLaren
McLaren Racing Limited, trading as Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, is a British Formula One team based in Woking, Surrey, United Kingdom. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor but has also competed and won in the Indianapolis 500 and Canadian-American Challenge Cup...
, in breaking new ground, are a powerful rebuke to those who say the manufacturing base has gone. Visits to places like this make me optimistic that we can in time ride out this storm and come out stronger."
Future of McLaren
On 16 November 2009 McLaren parted ways with Mercedes as it bought debut-season driver and constructor championship-winning Brawn GP. However Mercedes will continue to supply engines to McLaren until 2015. Dennis said one reason they had parted ways was because of McLaren's plan to become a car manufacturer. As the successor to the McLaren F1 the McLaren MP4-12CMcLaren MP4-12C
The McLaren MP4-12C is a sports car designed and manufactured by McLaren Automotive. It is the first production car wholly designed and built by McLaren since the McLaren F1. The car's final design was unveiled on 8 September 2009, and it is set to be launched in 2011...
will be put into production in 2011. The company will complete the buy-back of Mercedes' 40 per cent stake by 2011.
"Ronspeak"
"Ronspeak" is the term coined for the style of speech used by Dennis, and has become a well-used phrase in the F1 paddock to describe sentences of unneeded complexity. Dennis is renowned for his excessively verbose and cautious answers to tough questions from Formula One journalists. It started circa 1980, when sponsorship started to play a more prominent role in the sport.However while acknowledging that the term has been used to criticise Dennis, the former editor-in-chief of F1 Racing
F1 Racing
F1 Racing is a monthly magazine focused on Formula One racing which launched in March, 1996.The previous Editor, Matt Bishop, also used to write a fortnightly column for the website of the weekly magazine Autosport...
, Matt Bishop
Matt Bishop
Matt Bishop, who was born in London in 1962, is Head of Communications and Public Relations for the McLaren Group, which position he took up in January 2008....
, who now works for McLaren
McLaren
McLaren Racing Limited, trading as Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, is a British Formula One team based in Woking, Surrey, United Kingdom. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor but has also competed and won in the Indianapolis 500 and Canadian-American Challenge Cup...
as Group Head of Communications and Public Relations, argues that "Ronspeak" is not a vice; rather, it is informative and accurate. Dennis, in describing Fernando Alonso's contribution to the McLaren team's development, said his experience and ability "[prevented] an F1 team from going down [time wasting] technical cul-de-sacs - and as a result, car-developmental progress becomes more linear." Bishop described this as a prime example of Ronspeak, hailing it as "logical, informative and insightful. [but also] careful... in that what it doesn't do is compare Alonso's exceptional all-round ability with that of his predecessors."