Formula One is a pretty ego driven business. The drivers and, especially, the team owners breathe pretty rarefied air and many of them probably think that they can walk on water as well!
It comes, of course, from the extraordinarily privileged lifestyle that the money in the sport allows them to enjoy. Ron Dennis is no exception and he has gradually, over the years, adapted to the life of the very rich man without too many difficulties. But the driver of Ron’s ambition, like other multi-millionaires including Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore, hasn’t been wealth for quite some time.
Once you get to a certain level of financial security which guarantees the houses, the cars, the holidays, the private jet, the yacht, and the "Mark Two" trophy wives there’s not much more to spend your money on—both Ron and Bernie could have retired from the sport years ago—but their love of it and the status it provides them drove them on.
So, if Ron’s announced intention to leave the daily running of McLaren to Martin Whitmarsh in future is really to be believed then we must also believe that he has completely changed his outlook on life.
No longer will he be sitting on the pit lane wall during races making the decisions—indeed he won’t even be at some Grands Prix if his recent announcements are to be taken on face value. Well maybe—but I really rather doubt it!
McLaren is Ron Dennis in the same way that F1 is Bernie Ecclestone. At 78 Bernie shows no sign of giving up and he will need to be dragged kicking and screaming away from the sport he designed—he isn’t going to walk away, Ron, I suspect, is the same.
Once the season starts he will miss the smell of the oil and the roar of the crowd. If McLaren starts well he’ll want to be there to bask in the glory—in his own understated way of course! On the other hand, if the team stutters in the opening races he’ll want to be there to get them back on track.
We haven’t seen the last of Ron Dennis by any means—he is 16 years younger than Bernie Ecclestone and my guess is that when the men in white coats do finally come for Bernie, Ron will want to be around to step into his shoes!
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