I did not try to stop Lewis Hamilton from leaving McLaren: Ron Dennis

Lewis Hamilton

McLaren chairman Ron Dennis has admitted that he did not try to stop Lewis Hamilton from leaving McLaren for Mercededs last year.

“I recently read a very nice quote from Lewis in which he said that, unlike other drivers who had joined McLaren once they’d already raced in F1, his apprenticeship with the team in his youth meant that he was a seed that had grown within McLaren, which I thought was an extremely eloquent way of putting it,” Dennis said.

“Lewis knows that he’s part of the McLaren family and that, like that seed, he’s grown deep roots within our organization. Last year I didn’t seriously seek to prevent his efforts to explore new pastures with the Mercedes AMG F1 team – perhaps it was a necessary part of his maturation – but I’ll always remember his time with us very fondly, just as I’m very proud of having been McLaren’s CEO and team principal when he became world champion with us in 2008,” added the chairman.

Dennis also believes that Hamilton’s success as a driver is because of his upbringing at the team.

“While it wouldn’t be unfair to call Lewis ‘an overnight sensation’ in F1 – and many understandably did – we at McLaren know that it took many years of unseen hard work to make him one,” he said.

Dennis was speaking in an interview amidst celebrations of the 50 year anniversary of McLaren.