McLaren boss Ron Dennis has revealed that as of this season he will be taking more a back seat role in the running of the McLaren F1 team. He has been rumoured to have been considering at least semi-retirement for a couple of years after the stresses of the "Spygate" scandal and the breakdown of his marriage. Now it seems he has decided, after seeing his protege Lewis Hamilton win the championship last season, that this is the right moment to take a step back from the day-to-day running of the Formula 1 team. The team's operations at race weekends will now be left in the capable hands of long-time McLaren man Martin Whitmarsh.
The 61 year old Dennis has been with McLaren for over 28 years and has guided the company to huge success in that period with the likes of Lauda, Prost, Senna, Hakkinen and Hamilton all becoming World Champions with the team. Dennis will remain with the company as full executive director, and will focus more of his time on McLaren's projects away from the race track. He made the announcement at the launch of the team's 2009 F1 challenger, the MP4-24
Originally Posted by Ron Dennis