Dennis cuts remaining ties with McLaren

Ron Dennis has agreed to sell his shares in McLaren Technology Group and McLaren Automotive and will step down as chairman of both companies.

It was announced at the end of 2016 that Dennis had been removed from his role of CEO but he retained significant shareholdings in both McLaren Technology Group and McLaren Automotive at that time. It has now been confirmed that the 70-year-old has reached an agreement to sell his shareholding, cutting ties with McLaren.

"I am very pleased to have reached agreement with my fellow McLaren shareholders," Dennis said. "It represents a fitting end to my time at McLaren, and will enable me to focus on my other interests. I have always said that my 37 years at Woking should be considered as a chapter in the McLaren book, and I wish McLaren every success as it takes the story forward.

"Perhaps my greatest satisfaction is the Formula 1 team's outstanding racing safety record, which is a tribute to the dedication and efforts of hundreds if not thousands of talented and conscientious employees whom I have had the privilege of leading.

"I will continue to consult for various companies and work with the UK Government's Ministry of Defence Innovation Advisory Panel in helping to improve the technology, the culture and the organizations that together safeguard the UK's national security.

"I will also continue to run my family's charitable foundation – Dreamchasing – which focuses on mentoring and financing children and young people from all walks of life, so that they may aspire to and succeed in whatever their career dreams may be. It was working with Lewis Hamilton, whom I took under my wing when he was just 12 years old, and who became Formula 1 World Champion with McLaren in 2008 (pictured), that inspired my idea to establish Dreamchasing as a charitable foundation.

"Now that my time at McLaren has come to an end, I will be able to involve myself in a series of other programs and activities, especially those focused on public service. I will continue to indulge my passion for supporting contemporary artists and collecting their work, but most of all I will be driving new ideas and projects forward.

"Last but far from least, I wish McLaren well, and I send my greatest thanks and best wishes to my colleagues in all corners of its business, and at every level of seniority. Truly, they are the best of the best. And, well funded to succeed and grow, and led by an ambitious management team, McLaren is ideally poised to build on the successes that I am so proud to have contributed to during my time leading such a great British group of companies."

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Shaikh Mohammed bin Essa Al Khalifa will become the executive chairman of the newly-formed McLaren Group – a holding company for both McLaren Technology Group and McLaren Automotive – and thanked Dennis for his work in building such a valuable brand.

"I would like to pay tribute to Ron's immense contribution to the McLaren success story over the past 37 years," Shaikh Mohammed said. "As soon as he had taken over the running of the team in the late autumn of 1980, it was immediately clear that here was a man whose ambition to surpass the achievements of all previous Formula 1 team principals would not be checked.

"Together with Mansour Ojjeh of TAG Group, whom Ron soon introduced to McLaren and whose support has been invaluable to its success for a third of a century, Ron rewrote the record books in the 1980s and 1990s, winning Grands Prix and world championships as a matter of apparent routine. But it was not routine: it was in fact the result of a lot of clever thinking and a huge amount of extremely hard work.

"That ethos remains at McLaren, and I am very proud now to be assuming the position of Executive Chairman, alongside Mansour, my fellow Executive Committee principal, who will continue to work with me to drive McLaren Group forward to new successes.

"There will be time in the near future to outline our plans, for the coming months and years will be an extremely exciting time in the story of McLaren. But now, today, it is appropriate that we pause to express our gratitude to Ron. So, on behalf of McLaren and all who sail in her, may I say three heartfelt words: thank you Ron."