Martin Whitmarsh

Martin Whitmarsh

Martin Whitmarsh at the 2006 Bahrain Grand Prix
Born Martin Whitmarsh
29 April 1958
Nationality United Kingdom British
Occupation Former CEO of McLaren Racing (2004-2013)
Team principal of McLaren Mercedes (2009–2013)

Martin Whitmarsh (born 29 April 1958) is a British businessman and former CEO of McLaren Racing, a subsidiary company of the McLaren Group and Chief Operating Officer of that group, as well as team principal of McLaren Mercedes, following Ron Dennis's retirement on 1 March 2009. Whitmarsh was also the chairman of the Formula One Teams Association and therefore had the responsibility of representing the F1 teams' interests, until the organisation was disbanded in 2014. In 2014, Whitmarsh was removed from his job of CEO of McLaren Group, CEO of McLaren Racing and also removed from team principal of McLaren Mercedes. Ron Dennis replaced his two CEO jobs and Eric Boullier replaced him as team principal of the F1 team.

Career

Whitmarsh graduated from Portsmouth Polytechnic (now University of Portsmouth) with a degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1980, and started work at British Aerospace (now BAE Systems) as a structural analysis engineer at its Hamble-le-Rice facility.[1] He was promoted to an advanced composite structures research and development role and transferred to BAe's Weybridge facility. In 1988 he was promoted to the rank of Manufacturing Director and was put in charge of Hawk and Harrier airframe production.[2] He left to join McLaren as Head of Operations in 1989.[3]

In 1997, Whitmarsh was promoted to Managing Director, where he was responsible for managing the F1 operation and its partners and sponsors. This allowed Team Principal Ron Dennis to concentrate on other aspects of the McLaren Group. In April 2004, he was again promoted, this time to the position of CEO of the company's F1 operation.

In recognition of his many achievements he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree by the University of Portsmouth in 2009.

McLaren

On 1 March 2009 Ron Dennis stepped down as head of McLaren Racing to take a role in McLaren Automotive as he planned to expand the company's operation in car manufacturing. Whitmarsh became team principal as a result.[4]

Having started 2009 with an uncompetitive car, McLaren improved as the year progressed, scoring more points than any other team in the second half of the season, to beat Ferrari to third in Constructors' championship by a single point.

In March 2010, Whitmarsh was elevated to president of the Formula One Teams Association (FOTA), replacing Ferrari Chairman and FOTA founder, Luca Cordero di Montezemolo.

McLaren did not win a world championship with Whitmarsh as Team Principal, although Lewis Hamilton was in mathematical contention for the drivers' title until the final race of the 2010 season, being 24 points behind Fernando Alonso going into the last race of the season.

Following an uncompetitive 2013 season, Whitmarsh was ousted from his position as CEO of McLaren Racing and McLaren Group, replaced by his predecessor Ron Dennis in January 2014.[5][6] He formally parted ways with McLaren in August 2014 after 24 years with the organisation.[7]

Personal

During the BBC coverage of free practice two of the Belgian Grand Prix in 2011, Whitmarsh explained that he was colourblind making it very hard for him to read the weather radar during races.

References

  1. ↑ "Team Principal, McLaren Mercedes, Martin Whitmarsh". www.mclaren.com. McLaren. Retrieved 2007-04-09.
  2. ↑ "People: Martin Whitmarsh". www.grandprix.com publisher = The Motorsport Company. Retrieved 2007-04-09.
  3. ↑ Morrison, Murdo (2004-06-15). "Payback time; Farnborough may lag Paris in air show rankings, but the backing of the US defence giants and three new sector-specific features could give this year's event an edge". Flight International (Reed Business Information). p. 36.
  4. ↑ "Dennis to quit as McLaren F1 boss". BBC Sport. 16 January 2009. p. 1. Retrieved 2009-01-16.
  5. ↑ Benson, Andrew (16 January 2014). "McLaren: Ron Dennis replaces Martin Whitmarsh as CEO in coup". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 16 January 2014.
  6. ↑ "Dennis to make changes at McLaren after being appointed Group CEO". Autosport.com. 16 January 2014. Retrieved 16 January 2014.
  7. ↑ "Ex-team principal Martin Whitmarsh formally parts ways with McLaren". 26 August 2014. Retrieved 10 September 2014.