Martin Whitmarsh, currently the chief executive officer of the McLaren F1 team, is the officially nominated successor to Ron Dennis as team principal of the top UK racing. The move will only happen if Dennis, the 60-year old chairman, stands down over the next couple of weeks.It is believed that Dennis will relinquish the position of team principal in order to help further calm the tense mood following last year's campaign when McLaren was immersed in controversy with the FIA for much of the year. McLaren continue to deny there was any premeditated wrong-doing attached to this episode, but Dennis feels that it would be good for the sport if there were some closure for the whole vexed issue. The prospects for a more tranquil 2008 campaign could be immeasurably enhanced if Ron makes this sacrifice in the interests of the company which he has headed since 1980.Team insiders continue to maintain that Dennis has decided to step back from the operational front line as part of a structured package of changes to the way the McLaren group is run, which has been evolved over the past few years. They claim it has nothing whatsoever to do with the ongoing legal action initiated by the magistrates' court in Modena, Italy, which saw police and court officials raid McLaren headquarters and the homes of several highly placed McLaren executives - including Dennis and Whitmarsh.
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