- McLaren
Dennis vows to avoid Alonso tension second time round
Ron Dennis and Fernando Alonso insist they have put their bitter past behind them as they reunite at McLaren-Honda next year.
Alonso left the team under a dark cloud in 2007 after falling out with boss Dennis, but returns in 2015 in the hope of securing a third world championship. The two have been meeting behind closed doors in hotel rooms to thrash out a new deal over the past year, and although Dennis admitted the relationship was edgy at first he is adamant there will be no repeat of 2007.
"There was no question that there was a little bit of circling and discomfort," Dennis said of the early meetings. "The friendship we have re-established and demonstrate emotionally today, you would be very suspicious of and you wouldn't think has any grounds in fact. But we are focused on the future and we have to succeed together and we both agree that the core ingredient in our organisation is that we want to be happy. The opposite is rubbish.
"Happiness isn't a tambourine thing, it's about a state of mind. And you really perform better if you are happy. So we will absolutely have our radar on and avoid anything that will escalate in our relationship.
"The media will be looking for any tiny chink or fracture in the team's relationship and especially in Fernando and I. They will immediately get a wedge in there, but I can tell you now you'll be wasting your time."
Alonso said he would not have left Ferrari if he did not believe the new relationship with Dennis and McLaren would succeed.
"I think as Ron explained, you have to be honest with yourself," Alonso said. "As long as you are honest and you look back and learn from the things that you did, it's time to think to the future and be happy and to be competitive - that's what we want from this partnership. The other side is that it is not anymore 2007.
"This is McLaren Honda, which is a completely different thing in my opinion. Jenson [Button] is not Lewis [Hamilton], and that is a completely different thing in my opinion, and I'm not the same as I was in 2007. Look, I had two more years contract [with Ferrari] if I wanted in a very fantastic atmosphere, but the reason I am sitting here ready for this challenge with McLaren Honda in 2015 is because I see no problems at all. I see this as a great project."
Dennis said he had mellowed as a person, which would ease the relationship as well as there being less tension between the two drivers this time.
"I am very tough on myself and that toughness and aggression that I focus on myself is always a good catalyst to a balanced approach to life. I've mellowed quite a bit over the last two years and been much more inclusive, which is a good strategy to have to deal with the challenge of succession in the company.
"But if you go back to that period and you look at the chemistry we had with this young guy Lewis Hamilton, understandably perceived by many as the chosen one, but also someone who had immaturity. Really, if you're going on who struck the first blow, I would say that Lewis had his role to play in starting this process that then escalated.
"By and large those challenges you have between drivers - and I had them previously with Alain and Ayrton - I've always been able to manage to defuse. But this one got away from us and I look back on my contribution to that with exactly the same emotion as Fernando, which is that you regret the mistakes you've made in life. Sometimes you can't change what's happened and I probably could have done things better.
"The reality is that you look back on the mistakes, and if you are honest with yourself, you accept them and tend not to repeat them. You then put yourself in a position that you overcompensate. I don't anticipate any issues between Fernando and me."
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