Button says Dennis’s F1 return is good for McLaren

2014 F1 season

Posted on

| Written by

Jenson Button has welcomed the news that Ron Dennis has taken charge of McLaren’s Formula One team once more.

The team announced last week Dennis had replaced Martin Whitmarsh as chief executive officer of McLaren Group and will oversee the racing team he ran from 1981 to 2008.

Although McLaren are yet to confirm the future structure of their race team, the absence of any public involvement of Whitmarsh in the launch of the new MP4-29 today added weight to rumours of him being replaced as team principal.

Button spoke positively of Dennis’s return to the sporting side of McLaren’s operations: “This team under Ron has won multiple world championships, back to the days of Ayrton [Senna] and Alain [Prost] and before, so there’s so much history of Ron and this team.”

“He’s a true racer, he’s a true fighter. He really had built this team up over the years so I think it’s good for the team, it’s good for Ron that he has the chance to really drive this team forward again.

“I think everyone here is excited about the challenge of 2014 with Ron in charge.”

2014 F1 season


Browse all 2014 F1 season articles

Image © McLaren/Hoch Zwei

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

21 comments on “Button says Dennis’s F1 return is good for McLaren”

  1. “I think everyone here is excited about the challenge of 2014 with Ron in charge.”

    If I were you Button I wouldn’t be, because if you don’t do a stellar job this year, or if Magnussen is at least on par with you, he won’t hesitate to just get rid of you and get another man for the job.

    1. Alternate headline ” Employee kisses ass”

      1. Hahaha Exactly what I thought!

        1. Button, ever the clever politician. here he goes again but i doubt it’d work this time with Ron. Its Ron we are talking about after all.

  2. Whitmarsh wasn’t there?
    Seems as though he’s been airbrushed.

    1. Mighty Ron is baaaack! =)

  3. If Whitmarsh goes it is good riddance. Next out of the door is Button. He is getting his brown-nosing nice and early but that is not gonna fly with Ron like it did with Martin. Mclaren deserves better.

    1. Why? He did a good job last year in bad circumstances, must have been massively frustrating.

      I am not a massive Button fan but he did pretty well last year considering the car.

      1. Yes buddy he did a ok job, but one has to remember that he just about beat Perez in qualifying. He lacks the pace and he won’t get any quicker now..He is just not the calibre Mclaren deserves/needs right now, I don’t think. He is not a bad driver, but not great either.

  4. Finally it looks like Mr Whitmarsh is out of a job..!! Justice in the world..only in F1!!

    1. maybe he follows Perez to Air India, sorry Force India

    2. Is this serious, I mean did they(Ron) actually fire mr Whitmarsh?

  5. Please god Sam Michael goes too and Boullier comes in.
    His work with Lotus, their demanding owners, bugger all budget, taming a “problem” driver and managing to keep going when all the staff are leaving while at the same time presumably not being paid makes him the standout team leader over the last few years.
    Additionally, i dont believe in coincidences; and it seems unlikely Lotus sacked him due to underperformance; so hopefully he has signed for McLaren already.

    1. I’ll be praying for the opposite so I hope that we cancel each other out. :)

  6. Seems every nobody likes nice guys.

  7. Regarding the return of Ron Dennis to the helm of McLaren’s F1 team, I believe this is comparable in many respects to the return of Steve Jobs to Apple in 1997.

    Both personalities are known to have been tough, non-empathic leaders who had a strong vision which they followed ruthlessly to meet their personal goals. And they saw their personal goals as absolutely parallel to their organisation’s goals. These men lived to see realised their vision of what their organisations should become.

    I dislike Dennis pretty intensely. Of course, my opinion is formed solely from what I see on the television and read about online. He seems the opposite of what I like to see in a human being, whereas Martin Whitmarsh seems to be such a nice guy, as does Jenson Button.

    I am a huge supporter of Jenson, solely because he is so charismatic. But although I’ve always kept my fingers crossed for him, there is always a lingering doubt inside me that he lacks that vital killer instinct for him to be multiple champion.

    I’ve always had a similar and even stronger feeling with Whitmarsh, like a lot of you are commenting. What a nice guy, but not bad-ass enough to drive a team to huge successes.

    From the looks of Button, I’m pretty sure he’s not a fan of Dennis either – as a human being. But as a leader of men and women, I bet Button’s thanking his lucky stars that Dennis is back to pull the reins in on all these niceties and to start cracking the whip again.

    Just as Steve Jobs turned a flailing Apple into a market leader once again, I expect Ron Dennis to steer McLaren towards a return to great successes.

  8. Button has had a history of being written off.

    Did anyone actually express any great concern that it looked like he was out of F1 at the end of 2008?

    Did anyone really expect him to equal Hamilton over their years together at McLaren?

    And now people are expecting him to lose his seat purely because Ron is back?

    Button has surprised many before. I wouldn’t be surprised if he pulls one out of the bag again.

      1. In 2011, Button outscored Alonso, Webber, and Hamilton. He also outscored Hamilton overall in their three years together at McLaren. Button might not be flashy, and could use a lot of help in qualifying, but he brings home the points. Ultimately, though, his big value this year might be his ability to provide feedback to the engineering team.

  9. Dont know why Button seems so pleased about Ron being back. Ron is not going to be half as tolerant as Whitmarsh was towards Jensons lack lustre performances

Comments are closed.