Ecclestone warns Dennis

Bernie Ecclestone warns Ron Dennis

(GMM) The withdrawal from formula one of Ron Dennis is unlikely to appease the World Motor Sport Council when it meets later this month.

That is the opinion of F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone, amid suggestions Dennis may have stepped down from McLaren so that the Mercedes-powered team is treated less harshly by the FIA body.

"This is an issue for the McLaren team to deal with. This is not about the personalities of Ron and Max (Mosley)," Ecclestone said in Shanghai.

Woking based McLaren, led by the FIA president's nemesis Dennis since the early 1980s, faces fraud charges following the 'lie-gate' affair.

Bernie said: "They still face the same range of punishments if the WMSC find them guilty. If he (Ron) resigned to stop the hearing, it won't work. This is about finding out if there was more to what happened than we have already learned."

Ecclestone said he was "sorry" to see Dennis' more than 40-year involvement with the sport at an end.

Meanwhile, British Sunday newspapers are reporting that McLaren mechanics are furious with Lewis Hamilton.

The Daily Mail said the reigning world champion "could count his friends on the fingers of one hand", after blaming the sacked Dave Ryan for lying to stewards and then threatening to quit McLaren.

Former McLaren driver David Coulthard said he sympathizes with his 24-year-old countryman.

"He must be thinking 'how did I get myself into this mess?' the BBC pundit said.