McLaren – TAG Heuer extends 25-year partnership

Fresh from launching its 150th anniversary celebrations at a glittering event at the McLaren Technology Centre on the evening of Wednesday December 2, premium timepiece brand TAG Heuer announced that it has extended its partnership with the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Formula 1 team.

The relationship, signed in 1985, is one of the longest sporting sponsorship deals in history, and today’s announcement underlines the ongoing successes that both brands continue to enjoy together.

Among the guests of honour at last night’s event were Vodafone McLaren Mercedes driver and 2008 Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton, TAG Heuer president and CEO Jean-Christophe Babin, the brand’s honorary chairman, Jack Heuer, executive chairman of McLaren Automotive and founding shareholder of McLaren Group Ron Dennis and Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team principal Martin Whitmarsh.

However, the limelight belonged to a classic McLaren Formula 1 car – the MP4/2C, the car driven by Frenchman Alain Prost to a sensational world drivers’ title in 1986 – which had been lovingly restored by the team’s engineers and was last night driven by Lewis around the spectacular lakeside entrance to the MTC.

He parked the car at the entrance to the building alongside last year’s championship-winning MP4-23, and the two legendary machines neatly encapsulated the ongoing strength and health of a 25-year-old winning relationship. And while last night’s event tipped its hat to the past, TAG Heuer, as ever, is looking to the future: 2010 is set to be an extraordinary anniversary year.

- it will mark the 150th anniversary of the founding of the company, which proudly bears the legend ‘Swiss avant garde since 1860’
- it will celebrate the 25th anniversary of its relationship with the McLaren Formula 1 team
- it will see the launch of TAG Heuer’s first-ever in-house movement, the 1887; the first time the Swiss watchmaker has developed its very own mechanism
- it will also mark the relaunch of the classic Heuer Silverstone watch from the 1970s

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team principal Martin Whitmarsh said: “To announce the extension of a partnership that has already prospered for 25 years not only says a lot about the very close relationship that exists between TAG Heuer and Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, but it also speaks volumes about the appeal, strength and sustainability offered to all partners by Formula 1.

“We both share a passion for precision technology, and we measure life in Formula 1 by the stopwatch, so the long and prosperous relationship we’ve enjoyed with TAG Heuer feels entirely natural.”

TAG Heuer president and CEO Jean-Christophe Babin added: “It’s a matter of considerable pride to all of us at TAG Heuer that we can not only look back on a fantastically successful 25-year relationship, but that we can continue to share our vision together long into the future.

“In many ways, TAG Heuer has become synonymous with Formula 1 and, in particular, the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team. Many of our ambassadors – Ayrton Senna, Mika Hakkinen and Lewis Hamilton – have become some of Formula 1’s greatest champions, and our timepieces will long continue to celebrate the accuracy, the precision and even the history of this great sport.”

2008 Formula 1 world champion and TAG Heuer ambassador Lewis Hamilton said: “My long and ongoing relationship with the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team means that I’ve really grown up with the TAG Heuer brand. To be able to sit in the very car driven by one of the team’s greatest champions, Alain Prost, is a great honour; it was incredible to get to drive such a piece of history, and to experience a little taste of Formula 1’s, McLaren’s and TAG Heuer’s glorious past.

“Last night’s event really showcased the perfectionism and dedication that TAG Heuer has always shown the team, and it was an honour to be invited. Finally, it’s great news that TAG Heuer has chosen to revive another classic watch with a motorsport connection: the Silverstone. It’s a fantastic watch.”

McLaren Automotive announces plans for new British high technology production facility

Ron Dennis reveals details of proposed investment supporting over 800 jobs

McLaren answers UK political and industrial calls for high-tech manufacturing and engineering work supporting exports

McLaren Production Centre planned to build McLaren Automotive’s range of high performance sports cars from 2011

Ron Dennis, Chairman of McLaren Automotive, announced today plans for the UK home of a brand new British-built range of high-performance, high-technology sports cars. Located adjacent to the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, England, the McLaren Production Centre (MPC) is a proposal that would provide an important investment in the UK automotive and high-tech manufacturing infrastructure.

An application for planning permission was submitted yesterday (May 19 2009) to Woking Borough Council for the facility that would have the capacity for up to 20 pure McLaren sports cars per day. Aiming to be the UK’s most modern and efficient automotive production facility, MPC would provide employment growth at McLaren supporting over 800 automotive jobs and an estimated additional 1,500 indirectly in the local economy.

The planned building of MPC would also support sustained growth of the McLaren brand in providing high-value, high-tech manufacturing and engineering employment in the midst of the global recession. With its first product, a high performance and highly efficient sports car due to be delivered in early 2011, McLaren’s globally respected road car and racing car development skills are set to redefine the automotive engineering environment in the UK.

Ron Dennis said: “Ever since we revealed the McLaren F1 sports car in 1992, it has been a long-held dream of mine to launch a McLaren sports car company. Designing, developing and selling globally the best sports cars in the world is just half of that equation; building them to previously un-matched levels of quality, with ground-breaking technologies in a production facility in the UK is key to satisfying that dream. I believe that if the McLaren Production Centre is given the go ahead, it will be an engineering centre of excellence of which McLaren and the UK can be proud.”

Following a thorough planning process McLaren submitted a formal planning application that takes the McLaren Technology Centre’s (MTC) successful 2003 development as its lead precedent.

Six years ago, McLaren worked in partnership with Woking Borough Council and the Horsell Common Preservation Society to build an award-winning ‘Foster+Partners’-designed headquarters that offered extensive public access to its grounds and restored previously contaminated land. MTC’s build and integration into the landscape enabled sustained growth of McLaren Group companies to 1500 employees, adhered to strict planning controls and legal obligations and won a Royal Town Planning Institute award for its planning delivery. It is Ron Dennis’ aim that the McLaren Production Centre will follow a comparably successful process.

Dennis continued: “It would be easy enough to consider building McLaren sports cars in existing productive and experienced foreign factories; a number of which are knocking on our door. However, McLaren is a great British company founded over 40 years ago that should, in my view, continue to design and build our own products.”

McLaren’s plans for the MPC further support recent political and business calls for the creation of high-tech manufacturing and engineering jobs to support the UK’s growth out of recession. A Woking Borough Council decision on McLaren’s planning application for the McLaren Production Centre is anticipated at the end of July.

The proposed ‘Foster+Partners’-designed manufacturing centre complies with all key planning principles set by the existing planning consent and features a building sunk into the ground to minimise visual impact, substantial new areas of tree planting and re-contouring to effectively disguise above-ground views, and improves access to public land for recreation.

28-Apr-09: Whitmarsh Prepares for FIA Hearing

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Welcome to F1 Minute, it’s the 28th April 2009.

Martin Whitmarsh has spoken ahead of the FIA hearing tomorrow and said that the team now have a much better relationship with the governing body than it did under Ron Dennis. Whitmarsh adds it is clear from the history between McLaren and the FIA that things need to change going forward to be more positive and more constructive. Autosport are reporting that he might attend the hearing by himself, rather than take any legal advisors with him.

Elsewhere, Virgin boss Richard Branson says that he has offered the title sponsorship to Brawn but he isn’t the only one and the team are currently reviewing their options. He expects to make an announcement regarding Virgin’s future in F1 at the race in Barcelona.

Finally, F1.com reports that a film about Ayrton Senna’s life in Formula 1 will begin shooting next month. Made by Working Title Films, the Senna family have given full permission, and FOM will even provide footage.

That’s it for today, I’ll be back tomorrow for another F1 Minute.

16-Apr-09: Kubica to Try KERS, Ferrari to Ditch It

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Welcome to F1 Minute for the 16th April.

KERS news first, with BMW handing a KERS capable car to Kubica for Friday Free Practice in China, as they work on solutions to the weight problem. Meanwhile, Ferrari have decided not to run KERS in their cars for the Chinese Grand Prix. This comes after Raikkonen’s car was shrouded in a cloud of smoke during Free Practice 1 in Malaysia, and then wouldn’t have been able to restart the race due to KERS problems, had the rain not caused the red flag. Stefano Domenicali says: “It is a decision that we have taken because we need to understand the system exactly from a safety point of view, and a reliability point of view.”

Elsewhere, the McLaren Group has had a reorganisation with Ron Dennis taking the helm of McLaren Automotive which will become an independent company. This means he really won’t have anything to do with the F1 team anymore, but he says this has nothing to do with their current problems.

That’s it for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.

McLaren restructures Group to create independent McLaren Automotive company

At a press conference held this morning at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey (UK), McLaren Group Chairman Ron Dennis announced a major restructuring of the McLaren Group.

McLaren has for more than two years been engaged in a programme to develop a range of pure McLaren sports cars that will build on the great successes of the McLaren F1 and Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren. As part of this plan, it is intended that McLaren Automotive, currently one of a number of companies within the McLaren Group, will become an independent company later this year. The launch date for the first model in the new range of McLaren sports cars will be in 2011.

McLaren Automotive is intending to raise fresh equity in addition to the existing investment in the business to complete the development of the planned vehicle programmes. It has appointed Credit Suisse as its financial advisor, to facilitate this process.

Ron Dennis said: “With planned additional investment in the company of £250 million, proposals in place for a new McLaren car production facility in the UK, and the potential for up to 800 skilled jobs, McLaren Automotive’s expansion will represent a significant investment in the UK automotive industry.”

A number of organisational changes have also been announced today, which are designed to facilitate the next stage of McLaren’s corporate development:

- As Executive Chairman of McLaren Automotive, Ron Dennis will lead the growth of the new sports car business. As of today, Ron Dennis has handed his responsibility as Chief Executive Officer of McLaren Racing to Martin Whitmarsh, who will be responsible to the board for the activities of McLaren Racing in addition to his role of Team Principal of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes.

- On June 1st 2009 Richard Lapthorne will be appointed Non Executive Chairman of the McLaren Group and a Non Executive Director of McLaren Automotive.

Richard Lapthorne said: “This is a very exciting time to be joining the McLaren Group and to be working closely with Ron and his team on McLaren Automotive’s expansion into the sports car market. It’s a rare opportunity to be involved at a key stage in the development of a British sports car company of an entirely new sort, especially one that has such a great racing pedigree and such a world-class reputation as McLaren.”

Reflecting on his life in Formula 1, Ron Dennis concluded by saying: “I passed the role of Team Principal of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes to Martin Whitmarsh on January 16th, the day of the launch of our new Formula 1 car. That day I was asked many times whether I would attend the 2009 Australian Grand Prix. My answer was “yes”. I duly attended it – albeit not as the person in charge of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes. It was, I admit, a strange feeling.

“The next race, the Malaysian Grand Prix, I watched on TV in the UK – an activity I found surprisingly easy. I’d expected to be more emotional about it, after an unbroken run of attending so many grands prix for so many years.

“I admit I’m not always easy to get on with. I admit I’ve always fought hard for McLaren in Formula 1. I doubt if Max Mosley or Bernie Ecclestone will be displeased by my decision. But no-one asked me to do it. It was my decision.

“Equally, I was the architect of today’s restructure of the McLaren Group. Again, no-one asked me to do it. It was my decision.

“I feel enormously enthused about the prospects for the McLaren Group and for McLaren Automotive, and have no qualms about leaving Martin to report to the board regarding matters connected with Formula 1.”

13-Mar-09: McLaren Admit Car is Underperforming

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It is Friday, 13th March, and this is F1 Minute.

Just yesterday, I mentioned Ron Dennis defending McLaren for their slow testing times, but today Martin Whitmarsh has said that the team have a “performance shortfall.” This is an unexpected admission but even Mercedes motorsport boss Norbert Haug agrees that the team “aren’t competitive enough to aim for wins.” Whitmarsh continues that the team will be making improvements in Jerez but this may not get them as quick as they want to be by the time everyone lines up in Australia. He also showed he’s picked up some Ronspeak with phrases such as “resolute determination” and “experience of ultra-high technology.”

Massa has given an outsiders point of view by suggesting that he’s never seen McLaren so far behind as they are right now. Regarding his own team’s performance, he added: “I’m really satisfied with our competitiveness compared to all the others, except obviously Brawn GP, who were unreachable for all of us.”

That’s it for today, and this week, have a fabulous weekend and I’ll be back on Monday with another F1 Minute.

Lewis Hamilton Models for McLaren

Lewis Hamilton models some of the new replica racewear available at the McLaren shop. Hamilton had a bad time testing in Barcelona today, running off track and colliding with the barrier, and ending up bottom of the timesheets. However, Ron Dennis is not convinced that the timesheets mean anything, and that what happens in Australia is what counts.
Credit: www.mclaren.com

11-Mar-09: Button Heads Day Three in Barcelona

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Welcome to F1 Minute, it’s the 11th March.

Brawn GP led the way in testing today, with Button behind the wheel. There’s speculation that the car’s good performance is due to an abundance of low-fuel runs, but Ross Brawn isn’t surprised by the low times. He says: “It’s 15 months of work. We said that we were sacrificing last year to concentrate on this car, and what you see is what we said we would do.” Button led Massa in the Ferrari, who suffered a hydraulic problem that stopped him out on track, whilst Kubica was third in the BMW.

McLaren once again found themselves at the wrong end of the timesheets, with Hamilton both last and completing the smallest number of laps at 82. He also ran off track at one point, slightly damaging the car after contact with the barrier. However, Ron Dennis has denied the team have a problem, and suggests that testing isn’t where it matters. He said: “The objective is to go to Australia and be the most competitive car there, not to come out of every single test at the top of the timesheets.”

That’s it for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.

Ron Dennis Attends Paris Exhibition

Ron Dennis gets suited up to attend the 24th Concept cars design and new energies exhibition in Paris today. Current champion Lewis Hamilton was also present, along with former F1 champ Alain Prost. Copyright: Lionel Bonaventure/AFP/Getty Images

02-Feb-09: Singapore Confirm Circuit Changes

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Welcome to F1 Minute, it’s the 2nd February 2009.

Organisers of the Singapore Grand Prix have confirmed the changes they’ll be making to the circuit ahead of the race this year. Three corners will be adjusted in an attempt to improve overtaking, and the bumps that caused so many good sparks during the night race last year will be lost, as they resurface the track to please the drivers. Most importantly, though, a dedicated pit entry will be built, and the pit exit moved to make things much, much safer.

Elsewhere this weekend, Formula 1 has been mourning the death of Teddy Mayer. Ron Dennis has paid tribute to him, saying: “As far as I and all at McLaren are concerned, he has particular importance, on account of the fact that in 1963 he was part of the very small team of talented enthusiasts who, alongside Bruce McLaren, founded Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Ltd.” Mayer saw the team through many victories but sadly passed away on Friday.

That’s it for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.

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