Team Principals
Chairman and Chief Executive of the Tag McLaren Group - Ron Dennis
Ron Dennis began his career in motor racing in 1966 with the Cooper Racing Car Company. He moved to join the Brabham Racing team and by 1968 he had been appointed to the position of Chief Mechanic to Sir Jack Brabham.
Three years later, Ron launched his own company, Rondel Racing, and during the 1970s he ran a succession of highly successful teams, concentrating on the F2 and Procar Championships.
In 1980, Ron's company Project Four merged with Team McLaren Limited to form McLaren International. This was to be the catalyst for the success and diversification that McLaren has enjoyed to date.
McLaren International has won the Constructors' World Championship in 1974, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1989, 1990, 1991, and 1998. The team has also claimed the Drivers' World Championship on 11 occasions, including the last two consecutive titles in 1998 and 1999 with Mika Hakkinen.
Ron was also the co-founder of McLaren Cars in 1989, which designed and manufactured the revolutionary F1 roadcar. In response to the outstanding success of the F1 and customer demand, McLaren Cars produced the F1 GTR for private individuals to contest in the Global Endurance GT series in 1995.
In its first season the F1 GTR not only dominated the series but McLaren Cars became the first manufacturer to win the Le Mans 24 Hour race on its debut visit in 1995. The marque continues to race successfully even though the last car rolled off the production line in June 1998.
Ron Dennis is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the TAG McLaren Group, which encompasses McLaren Cars (curently working in collaboration with DaimlerChrysler on the new SLR sports car project), TAG McLaren Marketing, TAG Electronic Systems, McLaren Composites, WMM, Lydden Circuit, and Absolute Taste, all in addition to the flagship McLaren International formula one team.
Technical Director - Adrian Newey
Adrian's talent for designing race cars was originally nurtured in the 1980s with the March team. After joining as a member of the drawing office in 1981, he was appointed Chief Designer of the March GTP sports car the following year. The GTP enjoyed a successful campaign in America, winning both the 1983 and 1984 Championships.
In 1984, Adrian became Chief Designer on the March Indycar project and the team savoured a consecutive hat-trick of Indianapolis 500 victories from 1985 to 1987.
When March decided to enter the Formula One World Championship in 1987, Adrian was transferred to the new project as Technical Director. Despite an uncompetitive engine, the fledging outfit surprised many in the sport with some impressive results including fifth place in the 1988 Constructors' World Championship.
Adrian's reputation as one of the leading aerodynamicists in motorsport was cemented with his move to the Williams Formula One team in 1990.
On 1st August 1997, Adrian joined McLaren International. Since this time, and with the support of an excellent Design Office, the West McLaren Mercedes team has won three out of four possible world titles: the 1998 Drivers' and Constructors' championships, and the 1999 Drivers' Championship.
Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport - Norbert Haug
Cars and motorsport have been 47-year-old Norbert Haug's companions from the very start. Following his first post as a trainee journalist with a newspaper in his home town, Pforzheim, his enthusiasm for everything on wheels with an engine led him to the Stuttgart publishing firm Motor-Presse-Verlag in 1975. His first assignment was in the editorial office of the magazine "Sport Auto" and in 1976 he was put in charge of the sport section of the company's flagship "Auto Motor und Sport". In 1985, Haug was made chief editor of "Sport Auto" before returning to "Auto Motor und Sport" in 1988 as its deputy chief editor.
Three years later, Norbert Haug, married with one daughter, changed sides when the board of Mercedes-Benz AG employed him as an expert with insider knowledge to be in charge of the Motorsport department. Since 1st October 1990, he has been responsible for the company's entire motorsport activities.
Under his leadership, Mercedes-Benz has reached the heights of the international car racing scene: in 1994, 'the brand with the star' celebrated its Formula One comeback by supplying engines and also won the Indianapolis 500 with Penske as its partner. The following year saw the start of the partnership with the McLaren team a co-operation which reached its present peak with the West McLaren Mercedes team winning the Formula One Drivers' and Constructors' World Championship in 1998 and another Drivers' Championship in 1999.
In the 1990s, Mercedes-Benz has also won titles in other important racing categories: in 1992, 1994 and 1995 in the German Touring Championships (DTM), in 1995 in the International Touring Championships (ITC), in 1997 the Constructors' Championship in the American CART-Championship, as well as driver and team titles in the FIA GT Championships in 1998.
The Drivers
