ANTHONY ROWLINSON

“Has it all gone Ron at Mclaren?”

R

on Dennis’s media silence over the USGP weekend spoke volumes. Since news broke last week in MN’S sister title Autosport that Dennis would be leaving his post as Mclaren Group Chairman and CEO, there had been much speculation that he would come out punching in Austin.

Instead, he was a visible, though muted, presence in the COTA paddock. All the media were left to work with was a carefully crafted team statement, that sounded like a denial of Autosport’s report, but which was in fact nothing of the kind.

Dennis is predicted to depart at the end of this year, as his CEO contract was not renewed in the week after the Japanese GP.

The expected split with the organisation that he has shaped in his image since 1980 is the result of a bitter boardroom fight that has been going on since Dennis’s return to the CEO role in January 2014.

At that time Dennis, a 25 per cent shareholder in Mclaren Technology Group (comprising Mclaren Racing, Mclaren Marketing and Mclaren Applied Technologies), presented his fellow major shareholders with a plan to buy them out and assume absolute boardroom control. Those shareholders are his long-time business associate Mansour Ojjeh, with 25 per cent and the Bahraini sovereign wealth fund, Mumtalakat, with 50 per cent. trouble is, finding the estimated £200m to achieve this has proven difficult, meaning that Dennis has in effect run out of time to complete the buy-out.

It remains possible that Dennis, a fierce competitor who bleeds ‘Mclaren’, may yet find the requisite backing to fight on and remain as CEO.

But money alone may not be enough for Dennis, who is facing an ‘Arab alliance’ between Saudi Ojjeh and his Bahraini partners.

Their tough stance is rooted in deep personal enmity between Ojjeh and Dennis, relating in part to what Ojjeh regards as a betrayal by Dennis in January 2014, when Ron forced his way back onto the Mclaren board.

At that time, Ojjeh was recovering from double lung-transplant surgery and his place on the board was occupied in proxy by his younger brother, Aziz.

In returning, Dennis ousted his former protege Martin Whitmarsh as Chief Execitive Officer and installed a new management structure based around Eric Boullier as racing director and Jonathan Neale as Chief Operating Officer. Eight months later, Whitmarsh left Mclaren altogether, after 24 years, ‘by mutual agreement’. Crucially, however, Whitmarsh and Mansour Ojjeh had always enjoyed a close relationship and Ojjeh regarded Dennis’s power play as betrayal at a moment of near-death bed weakness. Two-and-a-half years on, it would seem that Dennis’ manoeuvre might have come back to haunt him – although any rival would write Dennis off at their peril.already there is speculation as to who might replace Dennis, with names such as Ross Brawn, ex-sainsbury’s CEO Justin King and Whitmarsh all emerging in recent days. Autosport understands that a preferred candidate may already have been earmarked, although that person’s identity remains a closely guarded secret.

Whoever takes on the role will have to contend with the doubtless vocal presence of Dennis as a remaining 25 per cent shareholder of both Mclaren Technology Group and sister company Mclaren Automotive.