New role for Whitmarsh

The divergence of various sections of the McLaren Group, the company has undergone a management reshuffle that sees F1 team boss Martin Whitmarsh handed additional responsibilities.

The recent spin-off of McLaren Automotive from the McLaren Group, and Sir Richard Lapthorne's decision to resign his non-executive chairmanship of both after just one year, led to the restructuring, which sees former f1 team leader Ron Dennis resume his role as executive chairman of McLaren Group as well as continuing in the same role within McLaren Automotive.

Whitmarsh, meanwhile, has been appointed as CEO of the McLaren Group and deputy chairman of McLaren Automotive. Neither role will affect his position as team principal of the F1 outfit, which took its second win of the 2010 season courtesy of Jenson Button in China at the weekend.

"Following the spin-off of McLaren Automotive from McLaren Group, I'm delighted to announce this management restructure," Dennis said, "The two companies will have separate shareholdings, and will continue to be headquartered in Woking. McLaren Group will be based at the existing McLaren Technology Centre, while McLaren Automotive will be based at the brand-new McLaren Production Centre, which is now being constructed alongside the MTC.

"I have enormous confidence in the senior management teams of both McLaren Group and McLaren Automotive, and am pleased that both companies will be extremely well served by those senior management teams, now and going forward into the future."

McLaren Racing's Jonathan Neale and McLaren Marketing's Ekrem Sami, amongst others, will contonue in their role as managing director of their respective cpompany under the McLaren Group umbrella. Antony Sheriff will continue in his role as MD of McLaren Automotive.