Has Ron Dennis' departure effected Hamilton's driving?
Posted by Sport.co.uk on: 25 June 2009 - 12:53
Author: Claire Danaher
Ron Dennis left the world of Formula 1 on April 16th this year, leaving behind a career that spans over forty years.
Dennis stepped down as the McLaren’s team principal in March, but handed over complete control to his replacement Martin Whitmarsh in April. As a result Dennis’s decade long mentorship of Hamilton’s career ended.
Another Scandal
His departure from McLaren Formula 1 to concentrate solely on McLaren road cars was rumoured to be as a result of the lying scandal which saw the team being handed a three race suspended sentence at the end of April.
Lewis Hamilton and sporting director Dave Ryan lied to the race stewards after the Australian Grand Prix in March. Ryan was sacked by McLaren on April 7th after Hamilton blamed him for the entire affair saying, “I was instructed and misled by the team manager to withhold information and that's what I did.”
The lies led to Toyota’s Jarno Trulli being given a 25-second penalty for passing Hamilton behind the safety car, which demoted the Italian from third to twelve.
However Hamilton admitted to FIA Race Director Charlie Whiting that they had provided stewards with inaccurate information. Hamilton was disqualified from the Australian Grand Prix and Trulli’s third place was reinstated.
It is believed that Dennis choose to leave McLaren F1 before the hearing in front of the FIA in Paris so the teams punishment would not be so harsh. It is rumoured that after this fiasco the relationship between Dennis and Hamilton and Hamilton’s dad Anthony became strained.
The start of their relationship
The relationship between Dennis and the Hamilton’s is a long one dating back to the 1995 when a 10 year old Hamilton walked up to Dennis at the Autosport Awards and told him he wanted to race for him. Dennis told Hamilton to call him in 10 years time, but less than three years later at the age of twelve he was signed by McLaren and Mercedes-Benz to their Young Driver Support Programme.
From then on their relationship blossomed and Dennis mentored Hamilton all the way through his pre Formula 1 days.
Dennis said to The Telegraph that Lewis, "was already successful in karting, so I knew he had talent, but it was more than that; I saw something in his eyes. It's like meeting a partner in life; you meet someone and you know that they're right; something about the body language, the eye contact, their presence, speaks to you. You just know. I just knew with Lewis."
Formula 1: 2007 ‘spygate scandal’
Hamilton entered Formula 1 at the seat of a very fast McLaren with the reigning world champion Fernando Alonso his teammate.
Dennis gave Hamilton a lot of public support and their decade long relationship was talked frequently about in the press. As a result Alonso found that he was sharing the limelight with a rookie which didn’t help the atmosphere in the garage, especially as Hamilton was matching Alonso’s pace on the track.
Another problem in his rookie season was that the McLaren team were marred by the ‘spygate scandal’ which saw the team fined £50m by the FIA and disqualified by the constructor’s championship. Despite these distractions, Hamilton, under the watchful eye of Dennis was only one point from winning the world championship at the end of the season.
World Champion 2008
Hamilton became the youngest ever world champion in the last race of the season at Brazil overtaking Timo Glock on the last lap to win the title by one point.
Throughout the season Dennis publically supported Hamilton and his new team mate Finnish driver Heikki Kovalainen, which was a marked change from the previous year.
Is it the new car that Hamilton is struggling with or the loss of his mentor.
In the 2009 season Hamilton has been struggling for pace and has been stuck at nine points since the Bahrain Grand Prix in April. He is struggling getting in to the top ten in qualifying and has been out qualified by his teammate Kovalainen in four out of the eight races this season.
The car has been blamed for the bad results but it has to be said that since Dennis left the team in April the results have been getting progressively worse.
It has also been reported that he has snubbed Dennis by pulling out of the Sports Industry Awards where Dennis received a lifetime achievement award.
McLaren say that next years car will be markedly better than this years MP4-24, so it will give Hamilton the chance to show he can be a world champion without Dennis.