Hamilton facing F1 ban and split from mentor Dennis at McLaren

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Hamilton facing F1 ban and split from mentor Dennis at McLaren
By MALCOLM FOLLEY
Last updated at 1:07 PM on 12th April 2009

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Lewis Hamilton faces the threat of being banned from up to three races when the World Motor Sport Council meet in Paris in 17 days’ time to hand out punishments following Formula One’s ‘Liargate’ scandal.
But the biggest loser of all could be the man who has bankrolled Hamilton’s career since he was 13 years old and who was the team’s principal for 24 years before standing down in January.
Ron Dennis, now McLaren’s chairman and chief executive as well as a substantial shareholder, will come under increasing pressure to make a decisive exit from the team he built up as the only way to ensure that world champion Hamilton stays on board.

Hear no evil: Lewis Hamilton and Ron Dennis could be on the verge of splitting up for good

Hamilton and his father, Anthony, are believed to have lost faith in the judgment of the McLaren chairman and sources say this is no longer a uniquely held view. Inside the team, there is said to be a gathering belief that until Dennis quits, McLaren will not be given the chance to start afresh after the shame of ‘Ferrarigate’ cost them a $100million fine in 2007.
McLaren face possible expulsion, or suspension, from the world championship after the WMSC charged them with bringing the sport into disrepute for the second time in 19 months.


More...

• Dennis back in the dock as McLaren are charged
• The exit sign: Hamilton's future with McLaren on a knife-edge

Should McLaren escape the ultimate sanction of being thrown out the championship, there remains a real threat of Hamilton and team-mate Heikki Kovalainen being suspended from two or possibly three races.

The team could also be excluded from as many as six races in the constructors’ championship.

If that happens, the loyalty of the team’s sponsors, including Vodafone, would be seriously challenged. ‘Most sponsors can handle the odd scandal, but they hate to be associated with a team who have been publicly named cheats,’ said an industry source.

Happy days: Heikki Kovalainen celebrates his victory in Hungary last year but he too faces a ban

As Hamilton’s reputation nosedived for his part in trying to deceive race stewards by
claiming, untruthfully, that Jarno Trulli had taken third place in Melbourne by wrongfully overtaking him as the drivers followed the safety car, his father placed calls from Malaysia not to Dennis, but to FIA president Max Mosley.
The result of those calls is believed to have been Hamilton’s very public apology for his part in the fiasco.

A fear exists at McLaren’s HQ in Woking, and at the offices of Mercedes in Stuttgart, that relations between the team and the FIA can never be improved while Dennis remains as the helm.

Over the days ahead, negotiations are expected to begin in a bid to convince Dennis of the severity of the situation.

In January, Dennis stood down as team principal in favour of his No 2, Martin Whitmarsh. It was a development supposedly signalling a new chapter in
McLaren’s history and a new beginning with the FIA.

The Hamiltons were said to be privately relieved at the news that Dennis had moved out of the front line. So, too, were Mosley and Bernie Ecclestone.

Dennis went into motor-racing with a bold vision and a commitment to winning, but he
also accrued enemies. He persistently challenged the governance of the sport and
argued for a greater proportion of the wealth generated by Ecclestone to be distributed
among the teams.

To McLaren, the strategy ahead of their appearance in Paris on April 29 has to be one of damage limitation. Dennis will not be there when McLaren enter the dock. He had been in Australia, but without a real function, when the team told the stewards that
Trulli had forced a way past Hamilton in contravention of the rules governing the appearance of the safety car.

Dennis was not in Malaysia when that lie was exposed and, when McLaren return to court, Whitmarsh will be in apologetic mode. Hamilton is expected to appear, too, but Dave Ryan, McLaren’s sporting director who was sacked after 35 years with
the team for his part in the affair, cannot be compelled to turn up to give his side of the story.

For McLaren, it is a crisis of unprecedented enormity. And it seems that only the head of Dennis will persuade Mosley and Co that the culture at McLaren has been changed to their satisfaction.


More...

• Dennis back in the dock as McLaren are charged
• The exit sign: Hamilton's future with McLaren on a knife-edge

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/for...it-Dennis.html

[funkyg]

I thought Ron Dennis had stepped down as team boss?
Also why the hell should Heikki Kovalainen be punished as well, he had nothing to do with the 'scandal'. Eccleston and cronies won't be happy until McLaren are out of Formula 1.

[mattress]

I'm glad that Team Brawn are doing well but the idiots at the FIA are turning people off F1. Their hounding of McLaren is near farcical.

[lithho]

some thing has to be done, the bigger teams cannot be allowed to get away with cheating. However the problem i see here is mosely is making this personal, he is trying everything to get at dennis. i hope dennis doesnt go, the team need him, as for mosley, hes just a twat with a grudge cause dennis says it as it is, while the other teams just put up with it..
On a side note i to am very happy to see brawn doing well. its good to see a freash team, and english driver at the top.

[Nikki]

it not looking good for him at the minute at all. no place for cheats tho

[casio]

I honestly thought they'd back off once ron stepped down, yeah they did wrong in lying but who hasnt lied, and the person who caused it all has lost his job and probably friends who were more like family after the 25yrs dave ryan worked there, and as for the monetary value of the points being "stolen" like bernie claims, what about all the points the fia(t) have stolen off mclaren? the 5 points from the aussie race when he should have been restored to 4th rather then kicked out, the drive throughs that dropped them down the points and at spa when they stole the race for ferrari, stole the championship at the end of the year by not punishing teams who ran their fuel too cold and the fia is going on like this over 1 point,

i hope they dont force ron out of mclaren, i can see martin whitmarsh getting the chop unfortunatly, i just hope he chins eddie jordan before he goes (hes the only thing thats really pissing me off about the bbc having the f1 and i dont know why lol)

a big downside of the possibility of hamilton leaving mclaren is the drives available, im sure all teams would chuck out a driver to get him in asap, inc ferrari, but isnt alonso ferrari bound next year? cant see him liking that if hamilton goes there, also hamilton in one of the brawns would be a nice challenge to the fia(t) i wonder if they'd go after them, makes you wonder if its mclaren or lewis theyre going after and with max's dad being who he was it makes you wonder if its the colour of the car or the colour of his skin thats the problem