JUNE 10, 2001
Dennis believes McLaren can beat Jaguar in court
RON DENNIS spoke in public about the Adrian Newey affair for the first time on Saturday and made it clear he believes McLaren will win their High Court battle with Jaguar.
But he refused to explain why and only cited the fact that much information not yet available would reveal why at the appropriate time and place.
On the chief issues, he said: "Adrian changed his mind. Everyone in life can change their mind. It happens to all of us. All the issues will be revealed in due course.
"I am certain that he will carry on working with us with his heart and his head in the right way for the next few years. As this unfolds, you will see this for yourself and you will see it as it is."
Dennis also confirmed that McLaren have an engineer development program in place in order to build up a team and a supply of top men for the future, and added: "We have 50 design engineers, some of them specialist and some training."
But he said that it was still very important to keep Newey because "we try to have the best of everything because that is what we need to win."
In regard to his relationship with Newey, he admitted, it had changed, but not substantially or altogether negatively.
"Life changes on a daily basis," he said. "So, yes, it (relationship with Newey) has changed.
"Not for the better or for the worse. It has just changed. I don't think there has been any appreciable difference in our business relationship or our friendship.
"Circumstances are unusual. This is not the forum to discuss them, but the basic relationships are unchanged."