What is the real story behind the press releases here?

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/83073

Am I on the right lines in thinking that Lapthorne was just hired as a figurehead boss for twelve months, so that Ron could hide from Max? (Did Lapthorne actually do anything in those twelve months...?)

Or is there more to it?

I think its got more to do with the spin off of the automotive group than Lapthorne going.

Well, that was the reason quoted twelve months ago for him arriving...

Same reason for why he's leaving?

Whitmarsh sure has a lot of roles now, boss of McLaren race team, CEO of the whole group, deputy chairman at automotive.. Surely a few more management types may be needed?

Not really, Whitmarsh is taking over all of Ron's roles in the racing team, and provisionally, will handle things that need to be handled if something happens to Ron, on the automotive side.

That's what I'm thinking too. How is it possible to have so many jobs at the same time? Unless being CEO of the McLaren Group takes 2 minutes a day, it's simply not feasible because he needs to take care of the racing team. Maybe this proves that the CEO's of this world get paid millions in salary by doing absolutely nothing.

Whitmarsh already has the team principal and CEO of McLaren Racing, which is an extremely involved job in itself, but taking on the chief executive of the entire McLaren Group is another day job, so unless he plans to clone himself I don't see how he could manage the duties. The deputy chairmanship isn't much more than attending a few board meetings a year, so that can easily be managed.

I miss seeing Ron on the pit wall. Just doesn't seem the same anymore. Like when Flav was at Renault and Brawn n Todt at Ferrari, happy days they were...

You may call me crazy, but I have this weird idea that Ron Dennis know how to manage and make his company flourish. So I'll take what he says at face value. I can't see why anyone would question this restructure tbh.

(Managing a racing team and drivers, Ron may have had his mishits though, so let's not go there )

truer words may never have been spoken

Also Chairman of FOTA.

It is always difficult trying to your way through a management change like this. It does appear that there has been some kind of confrontation that caused the resignation. Poor performance, wrong direction? It is anybody's guess. McLaren is in good hands, no worries there.

Mr. Dennis managed. I think McLaren management is setup in such a way that there are many people other who can handle the day-to-day. Executive decisions are few and far between.

This is kinda what I was getting at

I think what Ron is doing is setting up the entire McLaren groups so that if something happens to him or any other key member, the brand will continue on and in a strong way. Ron Dennis is as sharp as they come in business imo.




indeed

These relatively short-term appointments aren't that uncommon when companies go through a restructuring of some kind or other.

An earlier article on Lapthorne at autosport.com describes the reasons for his appointment, and his leaving a year later: