As Dennis leaves McLaren after a 37-year association, we pay tribute to 'Ronspeak'
Friday 30 June 2017 12:03, UK
During his three-decade tenure as McLaren boss, Ron Dennis' sometimes complex turn of phrase became affectionately known as 'Ronspeak'.
So to mark the end of his 37-year association with McLaren after he sold his shares, here are 11 gems uttered over the years by the man himself and our attempts at more straightforward translations...
"When I came into motor racing so many things were a black art. But black art was a cloak for 'we don't really know'. It was intuitive engineering. I decided to make it a science. We will develop science to take away uncertainty to make winning a certainty."
In other words: There's nothing flukey about victory.
"Focus is thought to be good, obsession is thought to be bad. But basically they're the same thing. And then there's ego. Ego is a core ingredient of ambition. Ambition and ego are close bed-fellows. And, like everybody I suppose, I seek happiness. It's an uncomplicated objective. I don't see happiness as laughing or clapping your hands. I see it as the opposite of unhappiness, the opposite of anger, of depression. If you can get into that state of mind, you're going to be far more productive."
In other words: I'm only happy when we're winning.
"Surprisingly for us, the psychological blow of it raining halfway through qualifying in Australia was much greater than we anticipated."
In other words: We didn't see the wet stuff coming.
"I wish Lewis really, really well. He's been nurtured well through his career and I feel none of the emotions that attribute to me."
In other words: Don't believe everything you read in the press.
"Life isn't about one person deciding anything. It's never that way. It's about circumstances. Everybody says: 'Am I bitterly this or bitterly that?' What? I'm a realist."
In other words: Get real.
"I continue to love the sport of Formula 1 with every fibre of my being."
In other words: I like F1 - a lot.
"First of all our shareholders have a position, then the board has a position and then Martin has to handle what that position is. It would be totally inappropriate for me to say anything that would undermine Martin's position."
In other words: Know your position.
"I hate shopping. I don't shop, at all. Fortunately my creditworthiness allows for a shop to release quantities of product so I can choose at home."
In other words: They shop, they drop.
"From our perspective, and ours is more qualified because we are not hiding from our inadequacies, it is statistically not borne out that we have huge reliability problems.
In other words: Don't mention unreliability.
"Inevitably you have a greater interest in seeing what he says and how he says it. I am more impressed when it is a pure quote rather than something he is reputed to have said. He is very well put together in the mind."
In other words: He thinks well.
"I used to go to bed with the vacuum cleaner going because my mum wanted the house immaculate when she got up. That's the ethos I grew up with, everything had to be perfect all the time. That's why I am such a pain to live with. I don't want chaos; my homes are my tranquillity bases."
In other words: Wipe your feet before entering.
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