McLaren pay $15 million compensation to Whitmarsh

A $15 million pay-out to former team principal Martin Whitmarsh contributed to the financial loss recorded by McLaren last year.

Writing for Forbes, F1 business journalist Christian Sylt said the latest financial statements for 2014 showed McLaren paid "compensation for (the) loss of office of a director", which surely must be Whitmarsh.

Overall, McLaren turned a $19 million net profit for 2013 into an almost $25 million loss in 2014, with Sylt saying it is mainly due to the British team's performance dip.

Whitmarsh joined McLaren as Head of Operations in 1989. In 1997, Whitmarsh was promoted to Managing Director, where he was responsible for managing the F1 operation and its partners and sponsors.

This allowed Team Principal Ron Dennis to concentrate on other aspects of the McLaren Group. In April 2004, he was again promoted, this time to the position of CEO of the company's F1 operation.

In 2009 Ron Dennis stepped down as head of McLaren Racing and Whitmarsh became team principal as a result.

Having started 2009 with an uncompetitive car, McLaren improved as the year progressed, scoring more points than any other team in the second half of the season, to beat Ferrari to third in Constructors' championship by a single point.

But McLaren did not win a world championship with Whitmarsh as Team Principal and following an uncompetitive 2013 season, he was ousted from his position as CEO of McLaren Racing and McLaren Group, replaced by his predecessor Ron Dennis in January 2014.

He formally parted ways with McLaren in August 2014 after 24 years with the organisation.

Another major cost was a $54 million fee paid to Daimler, after the Woking outfit switching from customer Mercedes power to works Honda support for 2015.

Revenue also dropped, with chief executive Jonathan Neale saying that was "predominantly due to decreased prize monies and sponsorship".

And even though McLaren's performance, and expected sponsorship and prize money losses, have continued to dramatically slide this year, chairman Ron Dennis insists that "we expect the McLaren Technology Group to return to profit in 2015".