Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMcLaren

Dennis: Alonso will lead McLaren to domination

Ron Dennis says Fernando Alonso will be a central figure in leading McLaren back to domination of F1 with Honda.

McLaren's renewed partnership with Honda has faced a difficult beginning, with the power unit proving uncompetitive and unreliable in the early races. However, following clear signs of progress, Dennis is certain the team will return to winning ways in the near future and says Alonso will be able to enjoy success with McLaren to finish his career.

"People tend to talk a lot of nonsense about the McLaren-Alonso relationship," Dennis told the official Formula One website. "Okay, 2007 was a stressful year, even though we won eight races and scored more world championship points than any other team that season. But that’s ancient history now. We’ve all moved on - and by ‘we’ I mean McLaren, Ferrari and indeed the FIA.

"And the Fernando we’re working with today, now, is a fantastically motivated and inspirational man. He’s as quick as ever, as competitive as ever, more experienced than ever, more expert than ever, and he combines those traits with an infectious energy and enthusiasm. Ask anyone in our team - mechanics, engineers, marketing people, PR people, cooks, waiters, cleaners, whomever you like - and they’ll all say the same.

"We’ll win again, we’ll dominate again, and we’ll do that together, with Fernando front and central. It’ll be a wonderful culmination to his glittering career, and all at McLaren and all at Honda are utterly dedicated to the task of working with him, with Jenson [Button] and with everyone else, to help him achieve it."

Dennis also says there is no chance of Alonso leaving McLaren due to poor performance, saying the double world champion is tied in for the next three years.

"He has a straight three-year contract with us, with no options. It’s as simple as that. That’s what we wanted to offer him, and that’s what he wanted to sign. I can’t make it plainer than that, can I?"

Click here for a look at the radical Honda power unit design

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.