McLaren Mangement Merrygo round...

[ajprice]

Derek Smith said:

Boulier's skills at working with limited funds might not transfer easily to a company where funding is not such a problem.

Interesting times a McL.

The other way of seeing that is that his skills got Lotus to where they were with those limited funds, so he'll be able to do a lot more with McLaren's bigger budget.

[Derek Smith]

ajprice said:

Derek Smith said:

Boulier's skills at working with limited funds might not transfer easily to a company where funding is not such a problem.

Interesting times a McL.

The other way of seeing that is that his skills got Lotus to where they were with those limited funds, so he'll be able to do a lot more with McLaren's bigger budget.

We'll know by mid season. I'm a big McL fan so fingers crossed. However, I've seen the manager at a lowly sports club take his team for three promotions in four years. He was headhunted, offered lots of money, but lasted a few months before being kicked into touch. It seemed to be a case of horses for courses. One of his main skills was getting the best out of individuals who were not, shall we say, class of the field. He wasn't so good at motivating those who felt themselves to be quite good at what they did.

[ajprice]

Derek Smith said:

However, I've seen the manager at a lowly sports club take his team for three promotions in four years. He was headhunted, offered lots of money, but lasted a few months before being kicked into touch.

Leave David Moyes out of this

[suffolk009]

Apparently Ron has been talking to the press. Sadly in fully understandable sentences, very little Ronspeak (pulled this off the net):

Ron Dennis on McLaren's future


Ron Dennis held a press conference today at the MTC to talk about 2014, the drivers and the future of McLaren. This is a short summary of his words:

2014 Expectations

Dennis: “We have to get back to competitiveness as soon as possible and we will get there much faster than people imagine. I believe we will win races this year, how many I don’t know and when I don’t know.”

Why he made a return as Group CEO

Dennis stated that “the company was unfit and I said to them that if they match my commitment we will win. If they don’t match that they won’t be with the company. The people were distracted, they had lost focus. From now on the F1 people in the company will only do F1, no distractions”.

This obviously referring to Martin Whitmarsh, who has been away from cameras and away from the MTC since Dennis was appointed CEO of the McLaren Group earlier this year. Sources say he will be making a decision at the end of this month.

In the meantime, Ron said he has no intention to run the GP team “I won’t be active at the circuit. I’m there to observe”.

Will McLaren have a title sponsor for 2014?

Ron confirmed the team will have no title sponsor for the first race of the season but “one will feature in a few races after that. We are negotiating with several companies at the moment and I’m optimistic that it will happen sooner than later”.

Ron is said to have been waiting for a longtime partner - taking into account Honda will be joining next year it could very well be a Japanese sponsor, with rumours pointing at Sony.

Time to talk about the drivers

Dennis said hiring Kevin Magnussen was his decision, based on information from engineers.

About Jenson: ”Jenson is an incredibly good human being, principled and has values. The way he conducts his life and his relationship with the team is right up there with the best drivers we have had here. He’s incredibly fit and intelligent, which will be important this year.”

[Bradgate]

Ron said:

"Our cars will not feature a title sponsor at the first event," he said. "But it will definitely feature a title sponsor in the next few events.

"Why? Because I strongly believe we are Manchester United.

"Inevitably when you have a run of poor results people push the rate card down.

"I won't accept that. I know what this company is.

"I know what this grand prix team can achieve and that requires the correct recognition when it comes to the commercial relationship with the principal sponsor."

That last bit of Ronspeak appears to mean "We have got a sponsor lined up, but we can't agree a price."

[ajprice]

[ukmike2000]

I'm sure Whitmarsh is ok as a mate but I always saw him as something of a bulls***er, always promising more than he could deliver.
I wasn't surprised when Big Ron dispensed with his services, in fact I am shocked he lasted as long as he did.

[Derek Smith]

ukmike2000 said:

I'm sure Whitmarsh is ok as a mate but I always saw him as something of a bulls***er, always promising more than he could deliver.

What, like a formula 1 team manager?

[CraigyMc]

doogz said:

I must have missed it, but what's happening with Grosjean now? Is Boullier still managing him? I suspect that'd be a conflict of interest?

There's somewhat of a precedent for that.
Flavio at one time or another was managing about a third of the grid (Alonso/Webber/Piquet/Kovalainen/Trulli/Fisico et al) while running Benetton/renault, and while being involved in engine supply to various teams (Arrows, BAR, Williams, Benetton).

Edited to add:
technically, Grosjean's contract is with Gravity Sports Management, which Eric Boullier was CEO of. I'm not sure if he's still doing that (I suspect his McLaren contract might preclude that).
Gravity Sports Management is owned by Eric Lux, who also owns the Lotus "Enstone" team and Genii.

Edited by CraigyMc on Thursday 6th March 17:25

[Agent Orange]

CraigyMc said:

There's somewhat of a precedent for that.
Flavio at one time or another was managing about a third of the grid (Alonso/Webber/Piquet/Kovalainen/Trulli/Fisico et al) while running Benetton/renault, and while being involved in engine supply to various teams (Arrows, BAR, Williams, Benetton).

I'm no lawyer but I'd be cautious about using Flavio as a test case for any legal precedent!!

[rubystone]

PW said:

25 years. What a complete chancer.

yeah short-tenner...no loyalty at all.

[Rich_W]

I respect Ron for his achievements over the years. But watching the interview the other day I cringed where he says Martin is a close friend. Specifically after he's demoted him.

But then this is the same Ron that "acquired" Mobil 1 sponsorship from Williams whist Frank (another of Rons apparent friends) was coming to terms with his paralysis in 1986.


With friends like these...

[Teppic]

Rich_W said:

I respect Ron for his achievements over the years. But watching the interview the other day I cringed where he says Martin is a close friend. Specifically after he's demoted him.

But then this is the same Ron that "acquired" Mobil 1 sponsorship from Williams whist Frank (another of Rons apparent friends) was coming to terms with his paralysis in 1986.


With friends like these...

McLaren didn't get Mobil 1 sponsorship until 1995, and had been Shell before then. Williams lost the Mobil sponsorship when Renault came on board for 1989, with Elf being the oil/fuel supplier. If in recall correctly the Mobil sponsorship still had one more year to run, and Frank had to pay an early termination penalty.

Edited to add: I think you might be confusing Mobil 1 and Honda

Edited by Teppic on Saturday 8th March 22:10

[Derek Smith]

Rich_W said:

I respect Ron for his achievements over the years. But watching the interview the other day I cringed where he says Martin is a close friend. Specifically after he's demoted him.

But then this is the same Ron that "acquired" Mobil 1 sponsorship from Williams whist Frank (another of Rons apparent friends) was coming to terms with his paralysis in 1986.


With friends like these...

I think it more likely that Whitmarsh got his chance as a team manager due to his friendship with Dennis. Are you suggesting that Dennis should allow him to continue his non-winning ways when it was, presumably, his function to get the team back on top.

We don't know what went on.

It sometimes takes bottle to make the difficult decisions. Many PHers were saying that Whitmarsh should go well over a year ago.

[Rich_W]

Teppic said:

Rich_W said:

I respect Ron for his achievements over the years. But watching the interview the other day I cringed where he says Martin is a close friend. Specifically after he's demoted him.

But then this is the same Ron that "acquired" Mobil 1 sponsorship from Williams whilst Frank (another of Rons apparent friends) was coming to terms with his paralysis in 1986.


With friends like these...

McLaren didn't get Mobil 1 sponsorship until 1995, and had been Shell before then. Williams lost the Mobil sponsorship when Renault came on board for 1989, with Elf being the oil/fuel supplier. If in recall correctly the Mobil sponsorship still had one more year to run, and Frank had to pay an early termination penalty.

Edited to add: I think you might be confusing Mobil 1 and Honda

Edited by Teppic on Saturday 8th March 22:10

Yes sorry. Honda. I read Ginny Williams book. "A different kind of life" about 10-15 years ago so couldn't remember. Frank was remarkably OK with it!

Still a pretty "combative" (I prefer stty) thing to do.

[Teppic]

Rich_W said:

Teppic said:

Rich_W said:

I respect Ron for his achievements over the years. But watching the interview the other day I cringed where he says Martin is a close friend. Specifically after he's demoted him.

But then this is the same Ron that "acquired" Mobil 1 sponsorship from Williams whilst Frank (another of Rons apparent friends) was coming to terms with his paralysis in 1986.


With friends like these...

McLaren didn't get Mobil 1 sponsorship until 1995, and had been Shell before then. Williams lost the Mobil sponsorship when Renault came on board for 1989, with Elf being the oil/fuel supplier. If in recall correctly the Mobil sponsorship still had one more year to run, and Frank had to pay an early termination penalty.

Edited to add: I think you might be confusing Mobil 1 and Honda

Edited by Teppic on Saturday 8th March 22:10

Yes sorry. Honda. I read Ginny Williams book. "A different kind of life" about 10-15 years ago so couldn't remember. Frank was remarkably OK with it!

Still a pretty "combative" (I prefer stty) thing to do.

I think, to be honest, Honda wanted out of Williams anyway. They (incorrectly, of course) perceived the Williams team to be severely weakened by Frank's accident, and the seriousness of his injuries made them think that the team would go in to a downward spiral. The inability of the team management to make Mansell defer to Piquet also had an effect, as they believed that he took points off of Piquet and cost them the '86 driver's championship. So they made him an offer that they knew he'd refuse: sack Mansell and take Nakajima if you want to keep the engines for '88. Frank didn't want to have his driver selection dictated to him by Honda and told them where they could go, so Honda terminated the engine deal a year early.

[CraigyMc]

Teppic said:

Rich_W said:

Teppic said:

Rich_W said:

I respect Ron for his achievements over the years. But watching the interview the other day I cringed where he says Martin is a close friend. Specifically after he's demoted him.

But then this is the same Ron that "acquired" Mobil 1 sponsorship from Williams whilst Frank (another of Rons apparent friends) was coming to terms with his paralysis in 1986.


With friends like these...

McLaren didn't get Mobil 1 sponsorship until 1995, and had been Shell before then. Williams lost the Mobil sponsorship when Renault came on board for 1989, with Elf being the oil/fuel supplier. If in recall correctly the Mobil sponsorship still had one more year to run, and Frank had to pay an early termination penalty.

Edited to add: I think you might be confusing Mobil 1 and Honda

Edited by Teppic on Saturday 8th March 22:10

Yes sorry. Honda. I read Ginny Williams book. "A different kind of life" about 10-15 years ago so couldn't remember. Frank was remarkably OK with it!

Still a pretty "combative" (I prefer stty) thing to do.

I think, to be honest, Honda wanted out of Williams anyway. They (incorrectly, of course) perceived the Williams team to be severely weakened by Frank's accident, and the seriousness of his injuries made them think that the team would go in to a downward spiral. The inability of the team management to make Mansell defer to Piquet also had an effect, as they believed that he took points off of Piquet and cost them the '86 driver's championship. So they made him an offer that they knew he'd refuse: sack Mansell and take Nakajima if you want to keep the engines for '88. Frank didn't want to have his driver selection dictated to him by Honda and told them where they could go, so Honda terminated the engine deal a year early.

I didn't know any of the above, but all I'd say to it is that it would hardly be a problem for Williams later on when Renault started turning out very competitive engines anyway.

[coppice]

PW said:

Many PHers have said EVERYONE in the sport should go for some reason or other. Their hair, their personal relationships, what they wear - all good excuses to attack prominent paddock figures in every thread. During the season the F1 forum just becomes the place to have a moronic argument, rather than a place to discuss F1 with other fans.

Absolutely - don't you just love those posts which say - 'Well I wouldn't employ him ' ; or -'If any of my staff had said that I'd bloody well fire them ' .

Always interesting to get a personal insight into F1 from the co owner of a plumbing supply firm in Nuneaton .Who would possibly last five minutes in the F1 piranha club and whose experience of motor sport extended to once having been to a BTCC race as a VIP guest courtesy of a grout supplier...

[zac510]

coppice said:

Absolutely - don't you just love those posts which say - 'Well I wouldn't employ him ' ; or -'If any of my staff had said that I'd bloody well fire them ' .

Always interesting to get a personal insight into F1 from the co owner of a plumbing supply firm in Nuneaton .Who would possibly last five minutes in the F1 piranha club and whose experience of motor sport extended to once having been to a BTCC race as a VIP guest courtesy of a grout supplier...

very witty

[tvrforever]

Is MW in Oz?