25/01/2005
NEWS STORY
McLaren has (almost) ruled out the possibility of technical director Adrian Newey returning to WilliamsF1.
In recent weeks there has been talk that the man responsible for the WilliamsF1 cars that dominated the early 90s might return, though many inside the business didn't believe it would happen.
Despite his success with WilliamsF1, it's widely known that Newey was frustrated at the money he was being paid at the time and team boss Frank Williams' refusal to give him even a small number of shares in the team.
Therefore, after a spot of 'gardening leave', Newey joined McLaren going on to create a number of championship winning cars for the Woking outfit.
In 2001, Newey came close - very close- to joining Jaguar, but McLaren stepped in. Then, the Englishman was linked with a possible switch another form of racing, designing a yacht for the America's Cup.
Speaking at the unveiling of the McLaren MP4-20, chief executive Martin Whitmarsh took the opportunity to give his team's side of the story, and hopefully dismiss some of the rumours.
"Adrian certainly has said he has no intention of going to another Formula One team," he said. "He's also reached a point where he wants to have the opportunity to consider other things. But I think often when people get to that point, to ease pressure on themselves they say 'I might stop or I might carry on' but we'll see.
"I personally doubt whether Adrian is going to walk away," Whitmarsh continued, "and I don't believe that he's intending to go to another Formula One team, although I'm sure that won't stop other teams talking to him.
"In reality Adrian has got to be somewhere that he finds challenging and enjoyable but at the moment it's not been an issue that is much discussed within McLaren."
Ron Dennis, who over the years has developed his very own language - Ronspeak - talked of the possibility of Newey enjoying a "creative regeneration break".
"I've been in dialogue with Adrian for several months," he admitted, "and there are various options that we are considering. Whatever follows on from Adrian's involvement with McLaren, which may continue, it most definitely will have as a starting point a time where he builds up his creative juices again," added Dennis.
"We are in dialogue," he revealed, "it's a conversation between Adrian and myself and we are under no time pressure at all other than those pressures that we put on ourselves."