McLaren Restructuring Convinced Newey

Newey had been expected to take a sabbatical from F1 after his contract finishes next January â€" but he confirmed earlier this week that he now intended to stay on until at least the end of 2006.

And Dennis, who famously persuaded Newey to stay on at McLaren after he signed to join Jaguar in 2001, claimed that he was not as directly involved in the decision this time.

"We made some progress a few months ago on how the company was going to function from a technical standpoint," said Dennis when asked to explain why he believed Newey had decided to stay.

"We have come to a very well-honed structure which fully integrates with Mercedes-Benz high performance engines, allows Norbert (Haug) and I to understand what is going on without any day-to-day involvement. It is a very harmonious process.

"I think it is the environmental change we have achieved in Mercedes and McLaren that has made many people happier in the organisation, because not only is it working but it is delivering on circuit.

"I think the conclusion Adrian came to is it is actually quite good fun to be part of McLaren and he would like to stay involved."