Dennis reveals truth about Alonso capture
Ron Dennis has finally revealed the details behind McLaren's shock capture of Fernando Alonso.
According to Dennis, despite frantic efforts to contact Flavio Briatore, it took six weeks before Alonso was able to inform the Renault team that he had signed a deal with McLaren. With a face-to-face meeting "impossible" to arrange, contact was eventually only made via the telephone.
The apparent breakdown in communications between the pair, formerly depicted as having enjoyed a 'father and son relationship', hints at one crucial factor in Alonso's shock defection.
Speaking to F1-Racing magazine, Dennis remained coy on the events leading up to Alonso putting pen to paper on a long-term deal with his team. He refused to say who instigated the talks between the two parties, or when first contact took place.
However, from Dennis' admission that the triumphant press release of 19 December which announced Alonso's capture was issued - against Briatore's wishes - immediately after the Spaniard had spoken to the Renault boss it can be assumed that negotiations were completed in the first week of November.
Briatore has strenuously denied having any role in Alonso's transfer and according to Dennis the driver was represented by "his manager Luis Garcia Abad, his lawyers and family. On our side it involved one key director, which was Martin [Whitmarsh], plus Nobert [Haug] and some other Mercedes-Benz board members. And, after Fernando had signed, but still prior to any public announcement, it also involved a few of our sponsors' senior board members. So, within 24 hours of him having inked his signature, I'd say roughly 25 people knew."
Remarkably, despite the obvious dangers of a leak, the story was kept quiet for the six weeks in which Fernando then failed to make contact with Briatore.
"They all understood the commitment I'd made to Fernando that his signing would have to remain confidential until he'd had the opportunity to inform Flavio," Dennis told the magazine. "Equally, it was understood that, as soon as he'd informed Flavio, I'd inform our drivers - because, obviously, I wanted them to hear it from me, and, equally obviously, one way or another, it would leak. And then, after I'd told our drivers, there would be a press release.
"But four weeks went by, and, owing to factors outside Fernando's control, he couldn't manage to meet Flavio to tell him the news. He tried quite a few times, but a meeting proved impossible to arrange. In the end, after six weeks of trying, and being very keen to inform Flavio before the news was leaked, Fernando had to inform him by telephone."
There's no explanation for why Fernando and Flavio were unable to meet, although the apparent breakdown in their relationship will be inevitably regarded as a partial explanation for Fernando's shock decision to leave Renault.
Once Briatore had been informed, Dennis moved into news-management mode. First to be told of the news were his drivers, Kimi Raikkonen and Juan-Pablo Montoya.
"It was late in the evening when Fernando advised me that'd he broken the news to Flavio. Despite the late hour, I decided that I should telephone our drivers immediately. That was particularly hard on Kimi, because he was in Finland and therefore three hours ahead of UK time. But he took it fine, as it happens."
Kimi's sanguine reaction will no doubt be seized upon by those in the paddock who are already convinced that the Finn has opted to leave McLaren at the end of the season for Ferrari.
The Colombian, on the other hand, appears to have responded with a fiery burst of that famed Latin temper.
"His reaction was, well predictable. His initial reaction was curt - maybe he thought his 2007 seat had just disappeared. But that isn't necessarily the case, of course."
Yet Montoya's disappointment must have paled alongside that of Briatore's.
"Flavio telephoned me and asked me to delay the press release by a week, but I was in an impossible position," says Dennis. "By that time, a large number of people knew. Keeping it secret was no longer realistic. I didn't want the news to go public via a leak. So the next day we sent out a press release."
