In a rare move Ron Dennis has admitted that he failed to be entirely honest in terms of Fernando Alonso's concussion.

It is rare for the Briton to make a mistake, and even rarer for him to admit to it, far less apologise. However, on the eve of the season opener - what promises to be a very difficult season for his team - Ron Dennis has made such an admission.

Talking to reporters ahead of this weekend's Australian Grand Prix, an event the team has won 11 times, most recently in 2012, Dennis was forced to admit that the hastily convened press conference in Barcelona, days after Alonso's crash, was essentially b******s, and that he was being economical with the truth.

Whereas he claimed that Alonso had not been concussed and would be fit for this weekend, we now know the truth. As did the McLaren boss at the time, it would appear.

"It was not the best performance by me," he said. "I understand why the press beat me up for being inaccurate. I wanted to be open honest. I failed. But it is my objective to try to be as honest as possible in future.

"There are a lot of complexities about concussion. It is difficult to quantify, and it goes beyond my area of expertise," he admitted. "It is not my decision. But as far as I know Fernando will be in Malaysia. I have every reason to believe he will be there.

"I spoke to him on the way over here. He wants to race there. I hope he does, but it is his decision, not mine. We have a mountain to climb and we are in the process of climbing that mountain. We will get to where we want to be."

Following his decision to return to the team and take the helm from Martin Whitmarsh, much was expected of the move following several years of poor results. However, since his return Dennis, who is seeking to get control of the team in the boardroom also, has never quite convinced, many believing that his attention is elsewhere... with the sports car division.

As he rightly says, McLaren has a mountain to climb, and its cause is not helped by such pointless distractions. Furthermore, his claim that Alonso will be at Sepang didn't sound entirely convincing.

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by CL, 12/03/2015 13:21

"So, Ron doesn't understand the technical medical meaning of "concussed", makes a mistake, admits it and still gets accused of lying? Gosh this poor guy has a real problem with the press (and several commentators)."

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2. Posted by Hondawho?, 12/03/2015 10:03

"If truths are the order of the day please will someone come forward and tell us "who framed Max Mosley"? Or maybe that's pushing things tooooo far ;-)"

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3. Posted by Steve W, 12/03/2015 9:59

"Speaking for myself here... but the thing about 'ol Ron is that I never quite know what he's saying, or what he means, or if he's telling the truth, or if he's not, or if it's somewhere in between, or if what he says is meant to protect his company's image, or protect a corporate image, or if he's trying to protect a sponsor image, or a manufacturer image, or a driver image, or his own image, or an image of an image, or somebody in the team, or... or... or...

"

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4. Posted by Hondawho?, 12/03/2015 8:33

"RD Said ". It is difficult to quantify, and it goes beyond my area of expertise," he admitted. "It is not my decision. But as far as I know Fernando will be in Malaysia. I have every reason to believe he will be there."

Pit pass said "he didn't sound entirely convincing "

That's because RD is not sure, and rather than "lie" he said what he said above which covers both points, lying and truth!

Maybe this could be the start of a point made on these pages a few days ago. Let's hope so."

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5. Posted by screeze, 12/03/2015 6:21

"A large team like mclaren shouldn't manipulate the truth Ever"

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6. Posted by BWesty, 12/03/2015 6:13

"But this brings back memories of when McLaren found themselves in hot water with the "Ferrari gate" Scandal, first there was denial from Uncle Ron and Co, and then there was plausible deniability in terms of... "I was not directly involved... or I am not an expert in that Field...: and then there Uncle Ron handed the reigns of the F1 Team over to someone else for a while. Now Uncle Ron has barely been back in the hot seat and already there is a touch of controversy in the air... perhaps he should stay in the background, building those beautiful road cars... "

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7. Posted by gturner38, 11/03/2015 22:30

"Alfsboy, if everyone took on that line of thinking, neither Ferrari or Maserati would exist. We could eliminate Aston Martin and Bentley from history as they started building both race cars and road cars at the same time."

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8. Posted by GeorgeK, 11/03/2015 21:31 (moderated by an Adminstrator, 11/03/2015 21:55)

"This comment was removed by an administrator as it was judged to have broken the site's posting rules and etiquette."

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9. Posted by scf1fan, 11/03/2015 21:03 (moderated by an Adminstrator, 11/03/2015 21:55)

"Wow, I thought these guys (and in particular RD) were a lot smarter than this . . . any ten year old knows that saying "I don't know." is a lot better than making something up, or worse yet, lying about it."

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10. Posted by alfsboy, 11/03/2015 20:56

"Purely F1 teams should just be F1 teams .When they deviate into road cars its a step too far and also leads to tears .Its different if they start out as road car manufacturer and then deviate into F1 as they are usually big enough to cope alreadyr "

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11. Posted by Burton, 11/03/2015 19:43

"inb4MagnussenwinstheAussieGP :P"

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12. Posted by Tweek, 11/03/2015 19:01

"Agreed. It sends a strong message that Alonso won't even be at Albert park. He could at least show up, wear the team ball cap and sign autographs for his Australian fans. Good luck Kevin!!!"

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13. Posted by Askari, 11/03/2015 18:32

"Something bigger is on between Alonso and McLaren. Just how unconvincing Ron is baffles me. He cant shoot himself in the foot twice for sure in a matter of 2-3 weeks. You may call me biased, but I have a hunch, Nando has rocked the boat, developed cold feet and going around in an utterly unreliable car, and wants to wriggle out. Time will tell"

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Dennis: I got it wrong

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