Formula 1 team McLaren before and after Ron Dennis’ departure – Part 1
Ron Dennis became a part of Formula 1 back in 1966 and managed the team Cooper to start his journey in the sport as a team principal.
After a couple of years with the team, he joined Brabham for some time before forming his own team, Rondel in 1971. The team mainly operated in Formula 2 but later on, it made its way into Formula 1 BMW supporting pro-cars series.
After managing the team until 1980, Dennis finally joined McLaren which one has to admit was his destiny and purpose in the sport if we look at his career so far. McLaren at that time were struggling to win or score good results as the team finished in 9th
place in 1980 when Ron joined the team but in just a matter of two years, the team scored the second place in the constructors’ standings but struggled to perform the following year.
Nevertheless after the team’s performance in 1981 with the help of drivers like Niki Lauda and Alain Prost, the team was back on the right track and by the 1984 Formula 1 season, the team secured its second constructors’ title after which they secured another
one the following year.
Managing two world champions like Alain Prost and Niki Lauda was not an easy job for the team principal. One has to admit that Ron Dennis is the luckiest or should we say the most legendary team principal in the history of the sport because he got drivers
like Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna, Mika Hakkinen, Niki Lauda, Kimi Raikkonen, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton to name a few.
However, the peak time for McLaren and Ron Dennis was when Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost joined the team as teammates and dominated the sport for 2 years.
Back then, Prost and Senna dominated the season for McLaren but they did not dominate it individually. Both of the drivers challenged each other for the drivers’ title even though they were in the same team and Formula 1 back then was at its peak time in
terms of entertainment with both of the drivers giving statements against each other and literally fighting it out on and off the track.
From 1988 to 1989, Senna and Prost dominated for McLaren but until 1990, the French driver decided to leave the team finally and was replaced by Gerard Berger.
This did not change anything for McLaren though as the team secured the constructors’ title for 1990 and 1991 as well.
After the 1993 Formula 1 season, Senna also decided to leave the team to join Williams but unfortunately, this was his last season in the sport as he passed away after a fatal accident during the San Marino Grand Prix.
This was one of the most emotional moments of Ron Dennis’ career as Senna was more like a family member for him but after that, he was gifted with a driver like Mika Hakkinen who carried on the legacy for McLaren in the following years.
To be continued…
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