Ron Dennis did not attend a farewell party for Lewis Hamilton last week in Austin, and he will not be in Brazil for his former protege’s last race for McLaren.<\/p>\n
The news adds to the perception that Briton Hamilton – who was nurtured through his formative years by the McLaren supremo and brought into F1 in 2007 – has fallen out badly with Dennis over the 27-year-old’s Mercedes switch.<\/p>\n
Referring to a farewell party in Austin last weekend, Daily Mail journalist Jonathan McEvoy wrote: “Dennis instead chose to attend what a team spokesman described as ‘an important cocktail reception hosted by Exxon Mobil executives at which he was guest of honour’.”<\/p>\n
But after Hamilton won the US grand prix, Dennis refused to wear McLaren’s customary ‘rocket-red’ victory t-shirt.<\/p>\n
And the 65-year-old “has decided not to travel to Sao Paulo for Hamilton’s farewell race”, McEvoy revealed.<\/p>\n
Dennis said in Austin last week: “Obviously the media thinks there’s some issue between Lewis and I — there’s absolutely no issue between us.<\/p>\n
“Sometimes the circumstances in a relationship don’t balance, don’t match,” he told the British broadcaster Sky.<\/p>\n
But there are rumours Hamilton and Dennis fell out very badly over the negotiations for a new driving contract for 2013 and beyond.<\/p>\n
“I do know what has happened,” an unnamed ‘senior figure’ told the Daily Mail.<\/p>\n
“Everyone makes mistakes and Ron made a mistake.\u00a0 Everything went pear-shaped and I don’t think it would be fair to say any more than that.”<\/p>\n
A McLaren spokesman responded: “Ron and Lewis plan to get together socially in the near future, as they’ve both said a number of times recently.”<\/p>\n
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