Whitmarsh better at managing champion drivers - Dennis

Ron Dennis has admitted that McLaren’s current boss is better than he was at managing "world champions" driving for the Woking based team.

Dennis, still executive chairman and a significant shareholder of the British company but no longer the F1 team principal, was asked by F1i magazine about McLaren’s current driver lineup of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button.

"Managing the co-habitation of two world champions is often a challenge," he said. "I have tried it a few times. Martin is perhaps showing himself to be better than me at that role."

Martin Whitmarsh, Dennis’ long-time deputy, took over the role of team principal at the beginning of 2009, and he is now tipped to also retain the FOTA chairmanship in 2011.

Under Dennis’ stewardship in 2007, Hamilton clashed memorably with Fernando Alonso, whose fractious relationship with his boss lasted only one difficult season.

20 years before that, the pairing of Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost is remembered as one of the bitterest in F1 history.