Dennis announces he's quitting Formula One

Such a shame that one of the greatest men in F1 has been forced to quit because of a power hungry asshole.

Thursday 16th April 2009

Ron Dennis has ended his 40-year F1 career by standing down as McLaren CEO - and insisted that the decision was his alone.

According to reports on Thursday morning predicting his announcement, Dennis' exit was motivated by a wish to of lessen McLaren's punishment in their upcoming World Motor Sport Council hearing. It was also claimed that the decision was made in an attempt to ensure that Anthony Hamilton - who was described as wanting the "prickly and arrogant" Dennis away from Lewis - would keep his son on McLaren's payroll.

And although Dennis shied away from both topics in the McLaren press release, he did insist the decision was his alone - and took a dig at his old nemesis Max Mosley by saying he doubts whether the FIA President will shed too many tears over his departure.

"I passed the role of team principal of McLaren to Martin Whitmarsh on January 16th, the day of the launch of our new Formula 1 car. That day I was asked many times whether I would attend the 2009 Australian Grand Prix. My answer was "yes". I duly attended it - albeit not as the person in charge of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes. It was, I admit, a strange feeling," he stated.

"The next race, the Malaysian Grand Prix, I watched on TV in the UK - an activity I found surprisingly easy. I'd expected to be more emotional about it, after an unbroken run of attending so many grands prix for so many years.

"I admit I'm not always easy to get on with. I admit I've always fought hard for McLaren in Formula 1. I doubt if Max Mosley or Bernie Ecclestone will be displeased by my decision. But no-one asked me to do it. It was my decision.

"Equally, I was the architect of today's restructure of the McLaren Group. Again, no-one asked me to do it. It was my decision.

"I feel enormously enthused about the prospects for the McLaren Group and for McLaren Automotive, and have no qualms about leaving Martin to report to the board regarding matters connected with Formula 1."

The restructuring sees Dennis takes the reigns over McLaren Automotive while Martin Whitmarsh will become Chief Executive Officer of McLaren Racing, which means he will be responsible to the board for the activities of McLaren Racing in addition to his role of team boss of McLaren's F1 team.

Source : Planet F1