Martin Whitmarsh

Well he's the man that's incharge at Mclaren but what do we all really know about the man named Martin Whitmarsh?

Well i can tell you that he has a degree in Mechanical Engineering. He started his career at British Aerospace (best known as BAE systems these days) as a structural analyst engineer at Hamble-le-Rice.

But in 1989 he was joined Mclaren as Head of Operations. In 1997 he was then promoted to Managing Directors role in which he was in charge of the F1 operation and it's partners and sponsors. In 2004 Martin was again promoted this time his position was CEO of the companies F1 operations.

It wasn't until the 1st March 2009 when Ron Dennis was stepping down from his position, as Team principal that Whitmarsh was promoted into that position.

Ever since Mclaren have had the following Championship standings since 2009:

2009: 3rd
2010: 2nd
2011: 2nd

All and all Whitmarsh's teams have been constitantly improving and he'll produce a championship winning team.

But why does Whitmarsh divide F1 fans opinions of him? Is it because he's not the loud and bouncing team principal that others are? Or is it the fact that he's not as good as Ron Dennis?
 
What nonsense.
That image could convey anything at all: he's forgotten his wife's birthday, trying to add up the cost of his groceries, rubbing his temples because he has a headache/eye strain, etc.

To claim that it's because he's unhappy at the prospect of 2013 is ludicrous.

ROFL ok, it was ludicrous :D
 
Caption competition? Can't do that on my iPad. Not because it won't but because I'm too thick/lazy to work out how.
 
Considering McLaren really ought to have won both titles this year, or at the very least be runners up in both, where does that leave Whitmarsh?

The buck has to stop somewhere and all the pointless gum flapping on TV after each race about how driver x did a great job doesn't change the fact that McLaren were eminently able to stop Red Bull from doing the double this year. And haven't. Again.
 
I've said it before I don't think Whitmarsh is the sole problem at McLaren, I think the problems are far more procedural and to do with McLaren's 'robotic' approach and the insistance in relying on data. One of McLaren's issues seems to be the lack of someone to make inspirational 'on the hoof' decisions.
Ron Dennis said in an interview not that long ago that while as a Team Prinipal you can't be expected to take full responsibility for everything that happens, ultimately the buck has to stop somewhere. If i'd heard my boss saying that and I had been in charge of the year McLaren have had with all the mistakes etc., i'd be slightly worried.
If McLaren were a football team, fans wouldn't quite be calling for change but they wouldn't be far off.
 
I think the problems are far more procedural and to do with McLaren's 'robotic' approach and the insistance in relying on data. One of McLaren's issues seems to be the lack of someone to make inspirational 'on the hoof' decisions.

I think rather than say it's not all Whitmarsh you've just argued it is. The person to do/change the above has to be the Team Principal, he's the person that is accountable for how things are run and needs to be the decision maker.

I think Whitmarsh said recently they have been too risk averse, the person to lead a change in culture has to be the person in charge.

The only other person if Whitmarsh is restricted in making these decisions is the CEO and therefore is it Ron that needs to take more of a back seat than he pretends he's doing?
 
I think rather than say it's not all Whitmarsh you've just argued it is. The person to do/change the above has to be the Team Principal, he's the person that is accountable for how things are run and needs to be the decision maker.

Not necessarily, although I do see your point. Jean Todt was Team Principal at Ferrari but Ross Brawn is given most of, if not all of, the credit for the strategy side of Schumacher's success at Ferrari. They knew what Brawn was good at and let him get on with it.
Whitmarsh may be where the buck stops but i don't think he can take sole blame for the apparent lack of dynamism at McLaren. It's as if McLaren could do with someone to step forward and say "why don't we try x,y,z instead of relying implicitly on what the data says". I thought this was what Sam Michael was brought in for, and even then that didn't fill me with much optimism.
 
He must know Hamilton wasn't offered more money by Mercedes, as every man and his dog saw Ross Brawn say on Sky that Merc didn't offer Hamilton any more money than he was already on. I suppose he's only doing what any Team Principal would do if one of the top 3 drivers were to leave their team - he has to justify 'allowing' them to leave without making it look like himself of the company were at fault in any way.
 
I have a feeling that the current quotes suggesting "Hamilton is already regretting the decision" are a blend of wishful thinking along with somewhat embarrassed regret at not getting the re-sign. Perez is no Hamilton, that is for sure and, without wanting to put too many backs up, neither is Button.
 
Whitmarsh cannot say that Lewis is leaving because he is unhappy with operational procedures and level of support and competency. The PR line and what I read from the quotes is that "we are better than Mercedes and we are perfectly happy with our operation because we are great and so the only reason that he could possibly be motivated to leave would be money". The delivery and other fluff around it is all a way of conveying the message without being derogatory (as much as is possible) to the other party and without actually saying what you are [Edit]attempting to say implying knowing full well that the opposite is true..

Archetypical PR statement.
 
It was rumoured that McLaren were going to offer less money for Hamilton than he was already on. If so, when Brawn said that Mercedes did not offer more money did he mean that it was no more than Hamilton currently was on or no more than the reduced McLaren offer?
 
I understand his salary will be similar to what he is on now, and I think bonuses are included in that, but he has more commercial freedom than he had at Mclaren.
 
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