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Long-time McLaren Formula 1 team shareholder and key figure Mansour Ojjeh has died.
The F1 team announced that the 68-year-old, a shareholder of McLaren since 1984, passed in Geneva on Sunday morning.
Ojjeh was a senior figure at McLaren since the TAG Group he led invested in the company almost 40 years ago, a move that was key to Ron Dennis’s era in charge of McLaren gaining momentum.
Ojjeh played a key role in McLaren’s expansion and established a close friendship with Dennis until Dennis lost control of McLaren a few years ago and sold his remaining shares to Ojjeh and the Bahrain royal family’s Mumtalakat investment company.
Despite Mumtalakat becoming McLaren’s majority shareholder, Ojjeh remained a significant minority shareholder and part of the investment structure.
He had health complications prior to that, with a four-year battle with IPF lung disease and a double lung transplant in 2013.
Ojjeh’s son Sultan took his place as a McLaren Group director in mid-2020 and sat on the board on Mansour’s behalf, removing Mansour from a position on the board of directors of any McLaren division.
McLaren says the team will “mourn his loss together with his family, to whom the team sends its most heartfelt condolences”.
McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown said in a statement that Ojjeh’s death had “devastated everyone” at the team and said, “his legacy is secure”.
“Mansour has been etched into the heart and soul of this team for nearly 40 years and was intrinsic to its success,” he said.
“He was a true racer in every sense. Ultra-competitive, determined, passionate and, above all, perhaps his defining characteristic: sporting. No matter the intensity of the battle, Mansour always put sport first.
“Mansour was a titan of our sport, yet modest, unassuming and disarming to all he encountered. His easy manner, sharp wit and warm humour touched all those who were fortunate to know him.
“His love of this team was palpable for all to see and those of us privileged to work for McLaren will remember Mansour as an impressive yet humble, human, a father-figure who showed us at the most individual, personal level how to fight adversity and be resilient.
“He will remain in death what he was in life: a constant inspiration to all of us at McLaren and beyond.”
Mark Hughes on Ojjeh’s impact on McLaren
Mansour Ojjeh was absolutely central to the creation of Ron Dennis era McLaren, the financial horsepower which allowed the team to bridge the gaps between partners and for Dennis to pursue his vision of making the team bigger and better than any other F1 team had ever been up to that point. It allowed Dennis to change the scale of what an F1 team was.
Yet Ojjeh remained low profile throughout his four decades as a major shareholder of the team, which continued even after Dennis left. The son of Saudi Akram Ojjeh who founded Techniques Avant Garde (TAG), initially an investment firm specialising in links between the west and the middle east, Mansour took a leading role in the company as a young man and was recruited as a sponsor by Frank Williams in 1979.
Dennis targeted him as his team’s route to financial independence and offered him a shareholding in the team. That was in 1981.
The two men were very close until a falling out between them led to Dennis being bought out. Ojjeh headed the Bahraini shareholder group which has underwritten McLaren into the Zak Brown era.
F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali said: “I was shocked to hear that our very good friend Mansour has passed away. He was someone with incredible talent, passion and energy and was a giant of our sport. I will miss him greatly and so will the whole F1 community”.
I carry a heavy heart into the race after the loss of a close friend, Mansour Ojjeh. He had the biggest heart and always carried the biggest smile. I am so grateful to have known such a man. This man loved unconditionally. Rest in peace brother, love you always🖤🙏🏾 pic.twitter.com/EGGFx2vtlM
— Lewis Hamilton (@LewisHamilton) June 6, 2021
A one-minute silence was observed before today’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Damon Hill, the 1996 world champion, said he was “someone whose contribution to our sport was in inverse proportion to his ego”, while ex-McLaren driver Carlos Sainz Jr, now at Ferrari, called Ojjeh “one of the most passionate and committed people I have ever met”.
🧡. So sad for this. One of the best person I have ever met in this sport and a man with a big heart. Will be truly missed . 🧡 https://t.co/VoDPEVL44k
— Fernando Alonso (@alo_oficial) June 6, 2021
A statement on behalf of Daimler boss Ola Kallenius and Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said: “Mansour was a business icon with a deep passion for racing. Together with Ron Dennis at McLaren, he set a new benchmark for how an F1 team could be run, and Mercedes enjoyed iconic moments together with them over many years of partnership.
“Mansour was also a tenacious fighter – and a true and loyal friend. He will be sadly missed and we send our heartfelt sympathies to Kathy and his family.”
