In an interview with Autosport on Friday, McLaren driver Kevin Magnussen believes that the pressure being applied to McLaren to raise its game by Group CEO Ron Dennis is healthy for the Formula 1 team.
Two weeks ago, Dennis criticised McLaren’s lead driver Jenson Button ahead of the British Grand Prix, saying he expected the 2009 world champion to try harder to fend off the challenge posed by rookie team-mate Magnussen.
However, Button hit back, saying the team should pull together rather than singling out selected individuals in the team for criticism. Button then responded in the best possible way; which was on track at Silverstone by helping to deliver McLaren’s best combined result since the season-opening Australian GP with a fourth placed finish.
In his interview with Autosport, Magnussen (who finished seventh in the British GP), feels that criticism from Dennis will help energise McLaren to improve following a largely difficult start to the season. Magnussen stated the following:-
‘It’s good that Ron is putting pressure on us, that’s what is good about Ron being there It puts pressure on everyone and you know you have to deliver, so I hope everyone in the team feels the same way because we are a good team – we just need to deliver everything we can.
‘We need to extract everything we can out of ourselves and do the best job possible, and that’s the effect Ron has. I think it’s positive he has this energy about him.’
As Magnussen has stated in his interview, there is no question that having Dennis back in the team and exerting pressure on them is a huge positive for the McLaren team. As we all know Dennis is not afraid to speak his mind on concerns and issues within the team and the organisation itself and everyone who is employed by the team understand what role they are expected to deliver and how they have to achieve their aims and objectives.
However, you could argue that the return of Dennis could also be seen as a negative for the McLaren team. There is no question that Dennis is a personality that is not only passionate about racing and being at the front of the grid where McLaren should and need to be. But he also has ‘no holds barred’ side to his personality that yes is positive for the team and gives them the motivation to do achieve what they need to achieve but could also bring even more unnecessary pressure that McLaren do not need right now.
But I would have to say as a McLaren fan that the return of Dennis for me is extremely positive. He brings a sense of urgency to the McLaren team that they need in order to solve their current issues and also improve their performances on track. But he also brings passionate, dedication and commitment to the team and will ensure that he does everything possible to get McLaren back to winning ways once more.
I would have to agree with Magnussen and say that under the leadership of Dennis, McLaren need to ensure that they do everything they possibly can in order to improve their performances. But I do feel that Dennis has all the experience and expertise under his belt to analyse and very quickly reorganise the team in order to try and kick start McLaren’s journey back to the front of the grid once again.
In his own interview with Autosport, McLaren racing director Eric Boullier has said that Dennis applying pressure to the team is nothing new, and simply an expression of his competitive nature. Boullier said the following:-
‘Ron has historically always pushed everybody. He’s a great competitor, he loves to win, and when you want to win you have to push yourself and everybody in the right direction. Everybody in the team has this positive pressure to make sure we will be winning again soon.’
As Boullier quite rightly states, Dennis has always been known in his role in Formula One and also in the McLaren team as an individual who is not only in love with the sport as a whole but is also pushing the boundaries in order to be the best team on the grid. It is what Dennis does best; plain and simple, even if sometimes his methods could be correct or incorrect.
You cannot deny that Dennis during his career in the sport has demonstrated under his leadership that he can pull the McLaren team in the right direction and achieve success and I do believe that when the new structure within the team grows stronger, then McLaren will once again be successful in the sport. But I do feel that it will take time for McLaren to achieve the level of success that they would like and they need to ensure that they learn their lessons from a very hard two years in the sport.
As Magnussen has stated himself in his interview, all McLaren can do now is ensure that under the leadership of Dennis is to ensure that they push the boundaries to the maximum and achieve the best performances that they possibly can from the
remaining races of this season. Question is; is Silverstone the start of McLaren’s journey of improvement? Only time will tell.
