Formula One / Ralph Ellis / 28 October 2008 /

Ralph Ellis looks at the top man at McLaren - not Lewis Hamilton, Ron Dennis.

When the pressure is on, the manner of the man in charge is everything. It's why footballers relax and perform for a new manager, why cricketers respond to a cool, calm and calculating captain.

So what will count for Lewis Hamilton in Brazil this weekend is not so much his own approach to the chance to make history, but how the guy who leads his team helps the driver and the army of mechanics and engineers supporting him to do their jobs.

Step forward Ron Dennis, owner and ruler of the McLaren Formula One team, who has to make all his 26 years of experience count when the moment of truth comes for the boy he turned into a man in Sao Paulo this Sunday.

Hamilton needs just four points to be certain of stopping Brazilian Felipe Massa winning the Drivers' Championship in his own back yard. The brilliant young English driver has shown he can handle the pressure once, winning in Singapore to set up his chances of a final day triumph. Now he has to do it again, with the memory of last year's mess-ups still in his mind.

There's no doubt he has the talent. Will he - and the rest of his team - have the nerve? Because it isn't only Hamilton's driving that is under pressure to deliver a prize that's already within their grasp, it's the whole team. Will he get the right tyres? Will the fuel stops be fast and efficient enough? The man who has to make sure he doesn't drop a spanner is as vital as the guy who is behind the wheel and has to be certain he doesn't spin off at 180mph.

So it's fascinating to read Jonathan McEvoy's exclusive interview with Dennis in this morning's Daily Mail about exactly how he proposes to settle his team for the big day. "I have to be calm, disciplined and lead by example," he says.

"I will not give myself the luxury of thinking how I will feel if Lewis wins the title because the problem will be coming to terms with how I feel if he isn't successful.

"Everyone will dump on us big time. They won't look at any other set of circumstances and just say that McLaren screwed up - again."

With that in mind Dennis plans to focus his troops on perfection in Sao Paulo. He'll make a speech urging them to keep calm and concentrate just on doing their own jobs properly. It will be a vital contribution and the signs are that after Singapore it will get the response he wants.

Massa is [2.52] favourite to win in Brazil and after making money in the back half of the season by laying Hamilton for a succession of races where he didn't win but still collected points, it's time to switch horses and either be brave and back the Brit to finish first at [3.4], or simply lay Massa and watch him suffer from the same pressure and nerves that everybody else expects to eat up Lewis.

Ron Dennis is giving all the right signals, and by Sunday night Hamilton should have taken the title. It's not too late to back him, even at [1.22].

Five things you might not know about Ron Dennis

1. He started out in Formula One as an 18-year-old mechanic working on Jochen Rindt's Cooper Maserati.

2. He started his own team - called Rondel Racing - for the first time in 1971 and enjoyed success at Formula Three and Two before taking over McLaren.

3. He took just four years to turn them from an also-ran to a competitive Grand Prix team, but not everything he touched turned to gold. He signed Nigel Mansell as a driver, only to find the car's cockpit was too small for him to fit into.

4. He straightens all the pictures in a hotel room, but insists: 'I'm not obsessive-compulsive, I just have great attention to detail.'

5. Since his American wife Lisa walked out last year after 22 years of marriage, he now has two poodle terriers - Lexi and Honey - to share his Surrey mansion.

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