In January 2014, Ron Dennis ousted McLaren's then-team principal and CEO Martin Whitmarsh from his role with the help of the McLaren Group's shareholders, Bahraini sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat and Mansour Ojjeh.
At the time of that coup, Dennis was confident that a change of management and focus would restore the Woking racers to their formerly winning ways. "I know what this company is and what this Grand Prix team can achieve, and that requires the correct recognition from and close relationship with a principal sponsor," he said at the time.
Dennis pointed to the race team's lack of focus as a factor in McLaren's performance slump, saying "I have a lot of respect for the people in our team but they were distracted, not focused enough." He convinced Ojjeh and Mumtalakat to back his return to the race team with a pledge to secure a replacement for departed title sponsor Vodafone, but three years on and McLaren still lacks a title sponsor, in part due to Dennis' unwillingness to lower the rate card in line with the team's performance in recent years.
In 2014, Dennis' first season back at the helm, McLaren finished fifth in the constructors' championship, equal to their 2013 season. In 2015, the switch to Honda power and the associated learning curve saw the Woking racers in ninth, with 27 points accrued over six points-paying finishes for their driver pairing. This year, with an improved power unit, the team are currently sixth in the standings, with 75 points. It is an improvement, but after 2015 there was effectively nowhere to go but up.
The on-track improvements were enough to motivate the shareholders to extend the deadline for delivering a new sponsor on several occasions, but there were rumours throughout 2015 that Dennis was on his last legs. As was reported by Sky at the start of the Brazilian Grand Prix weekend, those legs appeared to have run out of steam -- not only has Dennis been asked to jump by Mumtalakat and Ojjeh, but the Briton also visited the High Court in an attempt to maintain his position in the face of shareholder opposition.
On Tuesday, Dennis confirmed he had been forced out of the company after 35 years with a typically defiant statement. So what will a Dennis-less McLaren look like?
The two men who have been linked with every role going in 2016 are Ross Brawn and Zak Brown, both of whom have been named as possible occupants of every paddock job that doesn't require a seat fitting. Both have been named as possible replacements for Dennis, although neither has publicly confirmed their interest in the role.
Jost Capito, who joined McLaren at the end of the summer from Volkswagen, where he was director of motorsport, would seem to be the obvious choice, in that he has professional experience of both the sporting and automotive sides of the McLaren Group's business interests. Capito is currently CEO of McLaren Racing, but he was recruited to the role by Dennis and that alone may be enough to weaken his position in the next iteration of the team.
Where we are more likely to see change is in the technical side of the team, where Dennis' departure opens the door to possible new recruits formerly put off the notion of a move to Woking by the Briton's preferred management style. One such man is James Allison, who rejected previous McLaren offers but is no longer with Ferrari and is seeking a role that will allow him to spend more time with his children following the sudden death of his wife earlier this year.
Allison is not only hot property in technical terms, but he and McLaren racing director Eric Boullier have a strong working relationship. When the pair were together at Lotus the team was notorious for punching above its budgetary weight, and the prospect of a Boullier-Allison combination at the well-funded McLaren is mouthwatering for those who would like to see a resurgent team fighting at the front once again.