F1-Blog

Has Dennis been bumped?

Rumour has started to circulate in the MotorSport world that Ron Dennis has been bumped off the top at McLaren.

It seems that Mercedes may have ‘asked’ Dennis to step down, with Martin Whitmarsh taking over the day to day running of the Woking team.

This would be a sad day for the team, and the sport in general, as Dennis, although having his faults, is a good part of the sport.

Dennis has run McLaren since the early 1980’s, since then the team has won 9 Drivers and 7 Constructors titles. So he obviously knows how to get the team motivated.

Time will tell if the rumour is true, but we will keep you updated.

Roundup

Ok, so I have to apologise for not posting for a while, but this is the silly season, and I have been caught up in family and work.

That said, it’s also been a good off season so far for F1 news, so with that in mind, lets break it all down, let’s start with the Driver announcements.

Ralf

The younger Schumacher has left the Toyota team, and even though he played with the idea of driving for Team India by taking part in a test, it seems that he was not offered the job.

Ralf is one of those drivers that initially shone, and I have no doubt that if he was in a competitive car could be quick. However he has not got his brothers talent of setup, and overcoming the car’s deficiencies, and because of that cost Toyota not only a lot of money, but also a lot of time.

I’m sure with Timo Glock and Jarno in the driving seats the team has a good base to build a car for the future.

McProdrive Deal not done yet

That’s the news according to McLaren boss Ron Dennis, saying that the rumoured deal is ‘premature’.

The ProDrive team (owned by WRC Boss David Richards) will join the grid in 2008, and will be the first of the official ‘customer’ teams.

Dennis said that there has not been an agreement signed yet, but that it remains a possibility that the ProDrive cars will be brand engineered McLaren-Mercedes cars.

Dennis stated in an interview in F1 Racing that - “I’d never rule out having a partnership with another F1 team, but it would be somewhat premature to say it will be Prodrive.”

“If, however, as seems probable, the regulations for 2008 and beyond are such that running a B-team, or supplying chassis to partner teams, becomes possible - well then, along with our colleagues at Mercedes-Benz high performance engines (Ilmore - Ed), of course we’ll seriously consider it.”

“It’s not just about revenue. Doing it well would be challenging and would require extra resource, yes, and the company would therefore have to be properly compensated for it.”

Aston Martin to come to F1?

It looks like the F1 rumor mill is grinding again. The current hot topic is whether ProDrive will be branded as Aston on the grid in 2008.

David Richards is said to be working with Egyptian investment banks to fund the purchase of the prestige British marque from Ford (funnily it’s one of the only profitable parts of Ford at the moment).

If purchased they would brand the F1 cars with the Marque. This would be good news for the team, not only would they gain instant credibility, but it would also increase their desirability to sponsors.

Another thought on the deal may be that Richards would have to sell his entry in the 2008 championship to someone else to fund the takeover. I doubt that though, as ProDrive have been involved with Aston in it’s LeMan’s program so know the sports division of the company well.