“Several senior people have said to me, as I’ve forced this into the system,
‘I’ve never realised how much I did that wasn’t to do with Formula One’.
“The compass starts to move. You don’t know what true north is anymore. If
everyone matches my passion, commitment and focus, we will most definitely
win. Hopefully everybody has got the right mindset to understand what we
expect of each other and what I expect of them.”
Dennis did admit, however, that he was “partially responsible” for the
“evolutionary process” which led to McLaren losing its focus.
Despite his seizing of the reins for the first time since 2009, Dennis said he
would be at races to observe and that he “won’t be active at the circuit”.
No official announcements have yet been made on Whitmarsh’s future at McLaren,
but Dennis said the pair were still in touch and had not fallen out, despite
the events of recent months.
“I appointed Martin to this company 20-odd years ago, and he has been
alongside me for those 20 years,” Dennis explained. “He is a friend and he
has always been a friend. The situation is 100 per cent between him and me
until its resolution.
“I am very principled, and the behaviour of this company to its employees is
exceptional. There is a way to do things, and I have to lead by example to
everybody.”
Pressed on why Whitmarsh was removed as team principal, rather than the
“distractions” being removed from him, Dennis refused to elaborate.
“I gave you a clear answer,” he said. “I’m adopting the position because
Martin is a friend. We did not fall out. Some decisions you take in life are
not that easy, and I will not elaborate.”
Dennis joined McLaren in 1981 and oversaw title wins by Niki Lauda, Alain
Prost, Ayrton Senna, Mika Hakkinen and Lewis Hamilton. He moved into a
non-executive role at McLaren as chairman in January of last year, but said
yesterday he realised within “two days” he wanted to return to a more active
involvement.
Speaking about how he launched his return to control, he said: “I decided in
the middle of [last] season. At the beginning of this year, I discussed it
with my shareholders. They had six days to decide, that was the window. And
on the sixth day the decision was taken.”
Dennis also disclosed that both he and Whitmarsh had separately approached
Eric Boullier, now McLaren racing director, with a view to him joining the
team. He said it was “not surprising” as “for some time I had been
discussing with the shareholders [and the board] that things were not
working.”
He also claimed credit for the arrival of another addition to the team, the
Danish rookie Kevin Magnussen, at the expense of Mexico’s Sergio Perez.
Magnusson’s team-mate, Jenson
Button was praised for his “intelligence and dedication”, bracketed
with three-time champion Ayrton Senna and backed to succeed in the new
formula for 2014, which places greater emphasis on fuel management.
Button, for his part, said Dennis was an “unusual character”, but added that
his return has brought “a lot more confidence” to McLaren.
Meanwhile, Williams
yesterday announced that its livery for 2014 will return the legendary
Martini livery to Formula One as part of a new title sponsorship deal.
Williams ended winter testing as one of the front-running teams, and have been
backed by Button and others to challenge for wins at the start of the
season.