Still no news on Whitmarsh’s future

A week before the F1 circus gathers in Melbourne for the 2014 opener, the fate of McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh is still not clear.

Team supremo Ron Dennis has replaced Whitmarsh as McLaren Group chief executive, Eric Boullier is effectively the new team principal, and it is believed 55-year-old Whitmarsh is not in the running to fill the newly-created role as F1 CEO.

Whitmarsh was the chairman of the now-disbanded teams association FOTA, and he has not been mentioned in any of McLaren’s pre-season press releases in the run into the 2014 season.

Jonathan Neale is currently listed as McLaren’s ’acting CEO’, and Whitmarsh’s absence is conspicuous as the Woking team lists only Neil Oatley, Tim Goss, Sam Michael, Simon Roberts and David Redding in the management section on its official website.

Still, McLaren is saying nothing about Whitmarsh’s status.

"For the moment there’s nothing to report," a spokesman said.

"As and when there may be any further developments, we’ll let you know."