McLaren boss Ron Dennis describes Eddie Jordan as "village idiot"

Sport360 staff 14:00 06/07/2015
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Mail
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • WhatsApp
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Ron Dennis (l) brands BBC pundit Eddie Jordan (r) a 'village idiot'.

    McLaren group chief executive Ron Dennis has described Eddie Jordan as a "village idiot" following his heavy criticism of the British team. Dennis and his troubled McLaren outfit endured another painful weekend in what has been the worst season of their coveted history.

    – Also: Exciting British GP proves F1 is not too bad
    – British GP: Hamilton wins thrilling Silverstone race

    Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button were quick enough for only the penultimate row of the grid in qualifying, and while Alonso benefited from a host of retirements in an incident-packed British Grand Prix to finish 10th and claim his first point of the season, Button's race lasted just 20 seconds.

    The 2009 world champion, who has failed to finish on the podium in 16 appearances at Silverstone, was inadvertently taken out of his home grand prix by Alonso following an opening-lap pile-up through turn three.

    Ahead of the race, former team boss Jordan, now working as a pundit for the BBC, said: "McLaren boss Ron Dennis sacked ex-team principal Martin Whitmarsh but Whitmarsh never did the job of running that team as badly as Dennis is doing it now.

    "You can say Honda is a mess but so are McLaren. They have been a shadow of their former selves since they arrogantly stated that Lewis Hamilton would rue the day he left McLaren. Look how that has rebounded on them.

    "That arrogance is still there at the top of McLaren. They are hopelessly off the pace and anyone who thinks it is just the engine is deluding themselves. The engine is a lot of it, but there are lots of other issues there." 

    Responding to Jordan's remarks, Dennis said: "I consider Formula One a bit of a family. Families live in villages, villages always have a village idiot and he fits the bill perfectly. 

    "I don't consider him not a friend. I just think he is disconnected with reality. He wants to be colourful, but colourful at other people's expense."

    Dennis, speaking to Sky Sports, added: "We have a real challenge with our partners Honda – they are wrestling with reliability as well as performance.

    "Honda has a huge resource and it is applying it. We are in deep discussion with them on a regular basis and it is not pleasant for them.

    "Is it painful? Of course but you have to use pain as a motivating force. It is the right challenge because without the support of a company such as Honda I don't think it is possible to win the world championship."

    Despite Honda's troubles on their return to the sport, the man running their Formula One project, Yasuhisa Arai, insisted he remained the right man for the job.

    Speaking ahead of Sunday's race, he also ruled out poaching any leading figures from their rivals to help fire McLaren and Honda back to the front of the grid.

    Recommended