Ron Dennis insists he did not fall out with the McLaren owners and also confirmed he would never return to the sport he spent the majority of his career a part of.

It was thought the long-time McLaren chief left in acrimonious circumstances after falling out with fellow shareholders – but Dennis insists that was not the case.

Ron Dennis sets the record straight on McLaren departure

Speaking to the Times, Dennis said it was only the values of his shares that caused friction and that he himself had planned to step away.

“I was always going to leave on my 70th birthday,” he said. “I wanted to change direction. I didn’t feel I had a great deal left to prove in motorsport.

“Over the last eight years I have been catching up on things I didn’t have time to do when McLaren was my life.

“I have been so damned competitive and obsessive with motor racing that it was to the detriment of everything else. People say, ‘Tell me what the secret is, you know, of your success, and I say it’s the same secret a top athlete has. It is coming to terms with the word sacrifice. If you don’t know what sacrifice means, what you have to give of your life to be the very best at something, you’ve got no chance of being anything.

“People talk now about life balance and I know this is a sensitive subject in our society now. I get it. Everyone has a choice.

“But if you want to achieve, don’t expect things to be given to you. Come to terms with the meaning of sacrifice, the importance of focus, commitment, determination. You can embrace these driving forces or you can be just the same as most people.”

He did however confirm he will not return to the pit lane, choosing instead to watch the races at home on mute.

“I always turn the sound off. I know too much about it to want to listen to the rubbish that some of these commentators come out with. I watch for the purity of the race. I do love sport, still love watching grands prix,” he said.

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“But I will never go back. You can imagine I’ve got children and grandchildren, and they’re pestering me about going. I will arrange it for them but I won’t go.

“The thing is, I witnessed people coming back to Formula 1 after they’d left. The thing is, your opinion is out of date, even if you’re a multiple world champion.

“People are polite, everything you’d expect them to be. They will sit you down, they will give you a coffee, but you’ve got nothing to offer. You are a spare part and I would never want to be in that position. I’ve got better things to do.

“I love my garden, even if I don’t spend much time working in it myself, but I am passionate about it, passionate about so many other things in my life.”

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