Ron Dennis steps down from McLaren

Ron 'required to relinquish' Chief Executive and Chairman roles at Technology Group; remains on the board

Ron Dennis is a name inextricably linked with McLaren's success both on road and on the F1 grid. He's been part of McLaren since 1981, after all. Today, however, it has been announced that McLaren's shareholders have placed him on gardening leave and that he has been 'required to relinquish' his Chief Executive and Chairman roles in the McLaren Technology Group.

The dream team!

While the first details are only now emerging, it sounds far from an amicable split. The BBC was reporting discontent at Dennis's "autocratic" style, with a falling out between him and Mansour Ojjeh - who also owns 25 per cent of the McLaren Group - placing the Frenchman on the side of the Bahraini Mumtalakat investment fund, which owns the other 50 per cent. Certainly Dennis's statement leaves little doubt as to his opinion: "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 gardening leave, despite the strong warnings from the rest of the management team about the potential consequences of their actions on the business."

On the issues around his management style, Dennis said that this justification was "spurious". He continued by saying "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 One world championships." Of course the counter argument to that would now be that the last of those world championships was in 2008, a long time in F1 terms. He went on to say that "it has become clear to me through this process that neither TAG nor Mumtalakat share my vision for McLaren", which sounds like a very awkward stalemate.

Plainly there's a lot more to be established here - note he will remain on the board for both the Technology Group and Automotive - but it sounds like a very significant change is coming at McLaren .As for Ron Dennis, his statement concluded by saying that "I intend to launch a new technology investment fund once my contractual commitments with McLaren expire." Expect more details soon.

[Sources: BBC Sport, LAT]

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