Outgoing McLaren team principal Ron Dennis has revealed that he originally planned to step down from his role in 2007.
The reason he didn’t, he told the official F1 website, was that "some off-track difficulties" experienced by the team that year, convinced him to change his mind.
Dennis surely can’t regret staying at the McLaren helm for another year – a year which saw his protege Lewis Hamilton win the drivers’ championship at only the second attempt.
Following that triumph, Dennis said: "I felt the best time to announce my decision was at the launch of our 2009 car, in front of the cream of the world’s motorsport journalists, many of whom I’ve known personally for many years and some of whom I count as good friends."
Dennis will now devote some of his time to further developing the McLaren brand as well as devising ways of helping the sport to continue to thrive by cutting costs.
Don’t expect to have seen the last of him when he clears his desk in March.
Written by James Christie
