Matt Bishop, a renowned F1 personality has recently resurfaced his old article on Ron Dennis that he wrote in Motorsport Magazine. In his article on Dennis, Bishop unraveled three stories which made the former McLaren boss seem racist and homophobic while he was working with the Papayas as their PR Chief, around 14 years back.
However, 1996 world champion Damon Hill came out to support the former McLaren boss. In his reply to Bishop’s X post, Hill insisted that Dennis was being inaccurately accused of being racist.
In your story he was also inaccurately accused of being racist, we should remind readers that he signed the first ever black F1 driver @LewisHamilton (also the GOAT!) Ron was/is never ever prejudiced. Pragmatic, Perfectionist and Proud, yes! Congrats Sir Ron! #f1
— Damon Hill (@HillF1) December 30, 2023
Following this, he added, “We should remind readers that he signed the first ever black driver @LewisHamilton (also the GOAT!) Ron was/is never ever prejudiced. Pragmatic, Perfectionist, and Proud, yes! Congrats Sir Ron!”
Indeed so. As my column makes clear, I have always found Ron to be liberal-minded. He’s a Conservative, with a big & small C, yes, but always liberal-minded.
— Matt Bishop ️ (@TheBishF1) December 30, 2023
With this, Bishop also revealed that in his own experience, he found Dennis not to be a homophobe, but instead a liberal-minded human. Notably, Dennis signed Hamilton in 2007 alongside Fernando Alonso and it became the biggest gamble ever played by a team principal in the sport. From just a rookie back in 2007, he is now one of the greatest drivers of all time.
How did Dennis’ gamble on Lewis Hamilton work out?
Ron Dennis signed up Lewis Hamilton to have him alongside Fernando Alonso, the two-time reigning world champion at the time. Even though many called this a risky move, the then-McLaren boss was undeterred.
In the end, the move paid off as Hamilton showed impeccable talent. He went head-to-head against the defending champion Alonso right from his first race and at the end of the season, they were on equal points. The Briton won the Rookie of the Season that year for a scintillating debut.
Graphic for Lewis Hamilton’s 2007 debut season in F1, finishing runner-up overall and winning 4 races #F1 #LH44 #McLaren pic.twitter.com/59AHTc6dia
— Lew (@BloomieDesign) January 26, 2022
Hamilton lost the championship in 2007 by just one point. But, he made sure he came back at it once again, winning it in 2008. On the other hand, Alonso switched to Renault after finding it hard to compete with a young and ferocious Hamilton.
Lewis Hamilton has gone on to become one of the greatest drivers of all time. Even though he has the same number of titles as Michael Schumacher, Hamilton has more race wins, pole positions, and podiums to count for.
