Ronspeak 2014

[greentrumpet]

Just watched BBC quali coverage. Interesting attempt at avoiding the question by Mr D. have they signed Alonso?
Do they need more data?
Ron said (to paraphrase as I understood/misheard) that It's not just his decision, he has to take into account the shareholders and board of directors. No decisions have been finalised.
Does that mean:
-What he said
or
-Waiting for cheque from Santander

It sticks in my throat that JB might be replaced by FA (what a gift, those initials) after Hungary 2007 at spygate etc.I hoped RD might say if FA turns up at Woking I've instructed security to "Fire at will!"

[TWRv12]

For all the pseudo-intellectual twisted tongue bladder and guff, one of the papers summed it all up in part of a headline 'McLaren dithering'.

[djinvicta]

Im still on the opinion that if FA gets the McClaren seat, Ron will be replaced.
I cant see them working together with past history.
Ron is not in control there now. The Arab moneymen are.

[Paradise City]

He probably got some private satisfaction in driving a hard bargain but I doubt Dennis has a particular problem with Alonso anymore.

Teams often don't rush with announcements. A team's schedule isn't dictated by the impatience of internet posters. Dennis will retire sooner rather than later because he's supposed to be retired. He doesn't nearly have the authority he had before.

Saward thinks that given the political controversy that is swirling around this weekend, Mclaren are waiting until there's space to announce this decision with fanfare so they alone command the headlines in the F1 world. Given that Alonso is a big name and the Honda Mclaren tie up is a big deal - he's probably right.

The tiny signs suggest Button may lose out. Nothing decisive. But his demeanor with Alonso at that conference suggest a loosening of authority, Perez being signed up at FI, means that Magnussen hasn't anywhere else to go and I'm disinclined to think Mclaren will wash their hands of Magnussen just after one year. Tiny signs of that sort suggest the wind is going against Button. But perhaps events as they unfold will overturn that expectation.

[sparkione]

Originally Posted by Paradise City

Tiny signs of that sort suggest the wind is going against Button.

Sadly, I agree – JB's demeanour in the interview after Q3 was very down. Whatever the commercial imperatives, it's a scandalous way to treat both drivers, but particularly Button, who has done so much for the team these last few years and has comprehensively out-performed Magnussen this year (including, now, in qualifying!).

I can't remember ever having heard a bigger chorus of support for a driver in JB's position – Coulthard, Brundle, Walker, Alonso(!), Hamilton, Jordan – and probably Uncle Tom Cobleigh (although the lamentable mobile coverage in Devon makes this difficult to confirm...)

If I were him, I'd go and tell the odious Dennis exactly where to stick his drive, in some anatomical detail.

Good luck tomorrow, Jense. Enjoy every moment. There are a helluva lot of fans over here who'll be rooting for you.

[Biscuits In A Red Bull]

Magnussen could spend a year as McLaren test driver as JB makes his F1 swansong. Imo that's a likely scenario.

[JeremySmith]

Originally Posted by djinvicta

Im still on the opinion that if FA gets the McClaren seat, Ron will be replaced.
I cant see them working together with past history.
Ron is not in control there now. The Arab moneymen are.

That won't happen, Ron is in charge.....

[ScotsBrutesFan]

There is no doubt that Ron is in charge of McLaren group, but previously he was also the team principal.

This time Ron's involvement in the F1 team is to provide oversight, not hands on involvement. It's Eric Boullier that as team principal will be dealing day in day out with Alonso.

I think both McLarenHonda (I think it's Honda that's insisted on Alonso) and Alonso can make it happen as long as Boulllier is able to maintain that buffer.

[Mekola]

Wonder if Santander support to Alonso will continue even after Emilio Botin's demise. Surely yes, but don't know if it's as strong as before.

[brakedisc]

Could it be that Ron is waiting to the very last minute so he can shaft Alonso in payback for his part in the $100m fine? Strings him along then says "sorry Fernando, we do not need your services". Where would he go then? Lotus?

[GTRMagic]

Originally Posted by brakedisc

Could it be that Ron is waiting to the very last minute so he can shaft Alonso in payback for his part in the $100m fine? Strings him along then says "sorry Fernando, we do not need your services". Where would he go then? Lotus?

Didmt Mr Brundle suggest in the qualifying sessions that Mr Alonso had bought Caterham for £1 and planned on racing there next year

[Paradise City]

Originally Posted by brakedisc

Could it be that Ron is waiting to the very last minute so he can shaft Alonso in payback for his part in the $100m fine? Strings him along then says "sorry Fernando, we do not need your services". Where would he go then? Lotus?

No. Because firstly this is Ron Dennis not Dennis Hopper we're talkin about and secondly because he tells us the truth when he tells us he's got higher ups to answer to.

And I think alot of that huge fine silently found its way back into Mclaren's coffers after everyone suddenly realised that the FIA hadn't the legal standing to impose such a fine on the grounds that it did.

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by Paradise City

No. Because firstly this is Ron Dennis not Dennis Hopper we're talkin about and secondly because he tells us the truth when he tells us he's got higher ups to answer to.

And I think alot of that huge fine silently found its way back into Mclaren's coffers after everyone suddenly realised that the FIA hadn't the legal standing to impose such a fine on the grounds that it did.

Really? I've never heard anything about this before...

[Paradise City]

Well, from memory there was an issue that the governing body didn't quite have the legal standing to impose the fine that it did and through various accounting processes Mclaren got alot of their fine back. The penalty certainly wasn't the 100 million fine that was originally imposed.

I might be confusing this with some of the issues surrounding Renault's problems mind you but there was governance issues of that sort that concerned the Mclaren fine I think.

[djinvicta]

Don't think its the fine that's in Rons mind, he was had over by Alonso, that's the problem

[chillibowl]

we still don't know the full details of spygate and what Alonso's involvement was.

He clearly acted like a poor team mate that year (perhaps even rightly so as we also don't know what his contract said). No doubt about that but he didn't steal a Ferrari tech manual, he didn't upload it onto the Mclaren network, he didn't try to make copies of it, and iirc the copy shop clerk was the whistle blower not FA.

That said, RD could be planning on rehiring Alonso in order to lock him up in the same basement dungeons he has got Whitmarsh in.

[greentrumpet]

But Autosport quoted Alonso saying he was "happy" to help the FIA clear up the spygate saga. Alonso then decamped to Ferrari (via Renault)