Having once worked under Ron Dennis at McLaren, former F1 mechanic Marc Priestley got to understand his workings up close. Pointing out one of Dennis’ mistakes, Priestley recently detailed how the former McLaren CEO always cared a bit too much about the looks of the car.
Appearing on the YouTube Podcast ‘Pitlane Life Lessons,’ Priestley said he was convinced that Dennis would put too much value on things that weren’t always in line with the values of the people in the organization. Speaking further, the 47-year-old detailed how the former McLaren CEO carried an obsession with how the garage, the car, the factory, and the people looked like.
While the former McLaren employee does not see the obsession as completely wrong, he does believe that the now 77-year-old “over-indexed” in his approach. The notion was once repeated by Lewis Hamilton when he first made his way to the Mercedes factory.
Calling it a “spartan” setup, Hamilton claimed that the Brackley-based outfit seemed like a setup that invested more in racing and less in looks. With Priestley’s latest revelation, it becomes clearer as to why Hamilton said what he said back in the day.
However, Dennis’ approach wasn’t completely wrong, given the era of management F1 was in. With corporate style being the norm, the looks were an equally crucial element. Thus, Dennis wanted to create a corporate-friendly environment, so others would look at them and take them seriously.
But that no longer remains the case
With changing times, trends and styles have also changed in F1, including how the sport operates as a whole. While things were once always serious and almost corporate-like, they have now become more relaxed.
A plethora of public relations activities have made the drivers more relatable to the fans and have done a great job of ‘humanizing’ them. Drivers’ off-track personalities are more visible, and media training has evolved over time.
Additionally, the drivers have much more freedom to express themselves the way they want, with most choosing fashion as their statement. Lewis Hamilton brought forth a revolutionary new change within the paddock by dressing freely.
