WOKING, England (Reuters) — McLaren will
start the Formula One season without a title sponsor but still expect to
have one this year, group chief executive Ron Dennis said on Thursday.
"Our cars will not feature a title sponsor at the first event,"
he told reporters at the McLaren factory ahead of the season-opener
in Australia next week.
"But they will definitely feature a title sponsor some time at the
next few races."
McLaren were sponsored by mobile telecoms giant Vodafone until the
end of last year. They had planned to reveal a new title partner in
December but the appointed day came and went without any
announcement.
The team had their first season without a podium since 1980 last
year, a failure that led to a management restricting with former
principal and minority shareholder Dennis reasserting himself.
Dennis, 66, said the formal title of team principal had been
scrapped and would not discuss the fate of former incumbent Martin
Whitmarsh, although he said they had been in touch and remained
friends.
MANCHESTER UNITED
The group chief executive painted a bright financial future for the
team, the second most successful in F1 history after Ferrari in
terms of race wins and total titles, and compared McLaren to
currently ailing Manchester United.
Premier League champions United have been off form since the
retirement of Alex Ferguson at the end of last season.
"Inevitably when you have a run of poor results, people try and push
the rate card down," he said of the sponsorship negotiations," said
Dennis.
"I won't accept that. I know what this company is and what it's
grand prix team can achieve. And that requires the correct
recognition when it comes to the commercial relationship with a
principal sponsor.
"We are negotiating with several partners at the moment and I think
it will happen sooner rather than later."
Dennis said money was not an issue, with the overall McLaren Group — which includes the sportscar company and applied technology division — having turnover in excess of 900 million pounds ($1.51 billion)
and aiming to "sail past a billion and achieve 2.0 billion within
five years."
Applied technology, said Dennis, was showing 'tremendous growth' and
he would be bitterly disappointed if growth was not "north of 200
million pounds within two or three years" from a current 36 million.
The F1 restructuring, he added, would allow the team to focus on
being competitive, with former Lotus principal Eric Boullier joining
as Racing Director to deliver results on the track without having to
worry about other distractions.
Boullier will report to a McLaren Racing chief executive, who has
yet to be appointed, with Dennis in overall control without being
active at race weekends.
Dennis, who has been in Formula One since he started as a Cooper
mechanic in 1966, explained that he would be present at the season's
early races as an observer and would not wear the team uniform.
"The Formula One team has no responsibilities for income," he said.
"So the new model for our Formula One team is that it's completely
populated by people who have no other objective but winning in
Formula One.
"Effectively the mindset of the Formula One team is they provide to
the marketing company a car devoid of branding. They have no
responsibility for income...it's a much more focused model," he
added.
McLaren are switching to Honda engines next year after racing this
season with Mercedes power but Dennis said the team was not looking
for a 'stopgap' solution to the title sponsor vacancy.
"We've turned away stopgaps," he said. ($1 = 0.5977 British pounds)
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin; editing by Justin Palmer)
