Ron Dennis will retire on March 1st.

The Director of the McLaren Formula One team, Ron Dennis, announced that he will leave his duties on Mach 1st 2009. Martin Whitmarsh who is with McLaren since 1989 will replace Dennis.

At 61 years old, Ron Dennis has led McLaren as their Director since 1981. During the last 27 years, Dennis helped many drivers like Niki Lauda, Alain Prost, Mika Hakkinen, Ayrton Senna and Lewis Hamilton reach the pinnacle of this sport.

Ron Dennis will continue to attend some of the Grand Prix because he became a hardcore fan of the sport. Dennis will also keep his shares (which sum up to 15%) with the company for the moment.

His retirement was scheduled for last year but the events surrounding last year's espionnage scandal and the $100 000 000 fine that the team absorbed in 2007 were good enough reasons for him to stay with the team at least one more year.

(Picture: Ron Dennis, Canadian Press.)