Q & A with Ron Dennis

And the frenzy seemed heightened on Thursday when Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton skipped heading to the Istanbul Park track so they could take part in clear-the-air talks with the team.

But, however difficult the last few weeks have been for the individuals involved, team boss Ron Dennis was good humoured, upbeat and reflective when he met the press for his regular media gathering on Saturday afternoon at Istanbul. This is what he had to say.

Q: You had two different pit boxes in qualifying here to avoid the shenanigans we saw in Hungary. Obviously the long pitlane allows that here, but is that something you are hoping to achieve everywhere else that is similarly well endowed? And what will you do when we go somewhere that doesn't have a big pitlane?

Ron Dennis: "We will do it where we can. We have done it before and we will do it again. It is a bit more of a logistical challenge, but when we can't do it, then we will adapt and run as a disciplined team."

Q: Fernando has talked about improving the car immensely, six or seven tenths of a second over the winter as he brought his experience as a double world champion to the fore. He says he does not feel he has been rewarded enough for that input that has made such a difference to the car's performance. What is your reaction?

Dennis: "It is a good question, but inaccurate. I think what Fernando said was that he laid everything out in a long meeting. It started at 2:00 pm and finished at 8:30 pm in the evening. It wasn't with both drivers all the time; it was different elements of the meeting, some with management and some with them.

"It was a complete run through of the relationship from beginning to end. [Alonso's assessment] was absolutely true had it been possible - whether it is six, four or eight tenths is not material - to identify who had contributed what to how fast our racing car goes.

"The simple fact is that our racing car is something like two seconds a lap faster now than it was at the beginning of the season, and probably a significant greater step now than it was at the end of the last season. That has to take into account the different tyres from last year to this year.

"So you are focusing on one particular piece of data that was presented by Fernando, which was a piece of information that he was using to demonstrate his value to the team. And it is taken as a single piece of data and out of context of all the other bits of information and data that was discussed.

"There is clearly a fiercely competitive environment in this organisation, and it is not just the domain of the two drivers. It is between everybody in the team. We act as a unified team against the outside world, but then in a positive way there is a left and a right hand side of the garage.

Part of the requirements of any team principal and those people who sit between the cars and me is to orchestrate that in such a way that it is a productive competitiveness and not a counter-productive competitiveness. Clearly when it becomes counter-productive, it becomes destructive.

But that isn't what took place in Hungary. It hasn't occurred in the team to date and won't occur in the team in the future if we continue to run with discipline. But don't hang on so much on one piece of information presented accurately by Fernando but out of context of the bigger picture."

Q: Has this been the worst August for you from the last years? How do you feel now compared to the Saturday of Hungary? And the third question, are there still things you can improve in the management of the team?

Dennis: "My vacation? I just had a more expensive office! Instead of being sat in my office in Woking, I was sat in a sailing boat in Italy. It was pretty much the same after that, other than it was sea and sunshine and I was with my family. So it was quite a bit of communication but that is by choice.

"If we have an issue, I want to be involved in it. There are lots of things that we are working on at the moment, most of which are positive, which require contact between the office and me. So it wasn't the level of relaxation that I would like, but it was certainly a tonic, let's put it that way.

"As regards, can I improve as a manager? I would hope there is no one at the team that you could ask that question of that would not say 'yes, we can be better', because that is our ambition. We all want to be better.

"And while I have been doing it a long time, you still constantly live the emotion where, with the benefit of hindsight, you say if we had done this then this would not have happened.

"But hindsight is a commodity that is only relevant when reflecting on the past. Hindsight doesn't give you any vision of the future. That is the nature of the beast.

"Yes, we could have done it differently and yes, we could have created a situation that would have avoided last weekend (Hungary).

"But we all make mistakes. The important thing is identify them, accept them for what they are, and take the responsibility in those areas where responsibility needs to be taken. Then draw a line on it and point forward and come to Turkey and do a good job. And I think we have done a really good job so far."

Q: Today, are you feeling better than on the Saturday of Hungary?

Dennis: "Very much so, unless someone comes through the door and calls me to the stewards! But I don't think they will."

Q: We know you had a meeting on Thursday with the management and the drivers. Can you give us some clarity of what you did? Is it greater transparency, new procedures, or quelling grievances? What have you put in place to move forward?

Dennis: "I could, but it would be inappropriate. I am sure you have salary reviews but you are discussing your weaknesses. You are discussing elements within the organisation that you are not particularly proud of. I don't think we will be laying those in front of you and saying this is what we discussed.

"We went in with the clear intention of coming out of that meeting with everyone pointing in the right direction, and brought into that process.

"Inevitably with competitive strong characters and focused individuals pointing in the right direction it does not necessarily mean totally aligned, because we have all got objectives.

"But we are all pointing in the same direction and we really want the same thing, which is to win. We exist to win. That was the satisfying result of that meeting.

"Having said that, the people who have clearly demonstrated to us beyond any shadow of a doubt their professionalism are the two drivers.

"You cannot puppet people with such levels of competitiveness and such strong characters. So you can see that they are committed as professionals to beating each other and beating the rest of the field.

"That is the best we can hope for coming out of a very difficult situation. But it is behind us and let's keep it there."

Q: Clearly all the attention that is new to Lewis, he is realising now the bear pit he is in. From your point of view, you want him to produce the results for your team. Does it concern you at all now the attention he is getting?

Dennis: "I had to laugh over so many things that I was reading. The best one was seeing Mansour (Ojjeh) being referred to as an executive of Tag Heuer. It was a really amusing thing considering he is a principal shareholder and we sold it a few years ago! There are so many things that were just ridiculous.

"One of the great things coming out of my partnership with Mansour is the fact that we grew up together. When we first met neither of us were married, neither of us had kids. We have seen our children grow up and seen kids play together, and I know for a fact that all of the activities Lewis was involved in were just having fun with Mansour's family.

"That invitation was extended in Monte Carlo and it was because of Lewis's friendship with the kids, friendship with his kids, as my daughter is a friend of Lewis' - they text each other, they are in the same age group, they are of the same era.

"I never intended to go on Mansour's boat, I was on my chartered boat in Italy, which was interesting, positively interesting.

"He spent some of his time with Mansour having fun, and he spent the rest of the time in Portugal with his family. It was a completely normal experience, and to see people superimposed on photographs just makes a joke.

"Lewis's private life is private, but it is disturbing to see when it is so heavily distorted because that is just not fair. But he handles it and that is part of growing up.

"From a professional standpoint I make mistakes, probably most days. He or Fernando or Norbert or anyone else in our organisation, we are all human and we all make mistakes. As long as you recognise them, put them in the past and get on with life that is fine.

"You learn from your mistakes and that is what we have done out of Hungary. We will not make the same mistakes again."

Q: You have talked a lot over the years about controlling the situations and micro-managing it - and you are known for it. Have you moved over the last period of time more in the direction of saying, 'right, let's just let these two guys get on with it and race each other?'

Dennis: "We never stopped the racing drivers racing each other. We always said race each other.

"Micro management? I think people think I am a control freak. My daughter is here, she will tell me I am a control freak and my wife will tell you that as well, but of course I am not!

"At the end of the day, I try to do what I think is right and I don't always get it right. I am certainly more relaxed now at 60 than I was at 25. But the advice - and it is advice most of the time, not instruction - the advice that I give is just that: advice based on experience.

"It is not controlling advice, it is not an instruction, and most of the time it proves to be good advice. It is only given if it is asked for. It is as simple as that."

Q: Can you clarify once and for all the situation with Fernando? Will he be a McLaren driver next year? He is contracted to you, so there is no other possibility?

Dennis: "You just asked the question and answered it. He is a contracted driver and that is the way things stand at the moment - as with Lewis, as with Pedro (de la Rosa), as with Gary Paffett.

"The fact is, we have got contracts and there is no dialogue to vary any aspect of that."