Who is mansour ojjeh

I will miss him greatly and so will the whole F1 community. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife Kathy and their beautiful family who he was utterly dedicated to and who were his real passion in life. A quality man at every level. This feature is currently not available because you need to provide consent to functional cookies.

Please update your cookie preferences. This tweet has been removed from Twitter. Grand Prix Weekend. Some people will not relate to that, they will say that's the absurdity of McLaren, or whatever. We didn't always present it in the right way! He was just the inspiration — we will set out to try and be the best. We went to every race thinking we should win this one. Ojjeh backed the creation of subsidiary TAG Electronics, later rebranded under the McLaren name, and which is now a key supplier across the motor sport industry.

He also deserves much of the credit for the birth of the McLaren F1 road car, the project that helped lift the company to another level, beyond that of rivals such as Williams. He was the guy who said, 'Let's do a road car. And not just dream, it was let's build the best road car in the world. But it wouldn't have happened without the passion and the instigation of Mansour.

It was a similar situation many years later when Whitmarsh pitched the plans for what became McLaren Automotive — in the middle of a global economic crisis. He was a much more passionate and knowledgeable supercar guy than anyone else that we had around us.

Ojjeh was involved in all the big strategic decisions at McLaren, such as engine partner choices. He wasn't responsible the day-to-day activities — for decades he left that to partner and co-shareholder Dennis.

Sadly the relationship between theses two driven but very different men would eventually implode. The dynamic changed as Whitmarsh and subsequently Boullier, Brown and Andreas Seidl took senior roles, and as their boss, Ojjeh helped to steer them.

Like any good company owner he knew the value of delegating to people he trusted. However, he always knew exactly what was going on. When things were tough when I joined, he was totally supportive.

And he liked being in the know, so he could be involved and contribute. He contributed a lot of direction, had an opinion, but he empowered me to run the team. But he was keeping his distance. He knew everything which is important, he paid a lot of attention to people, how people interacted, and how they felt.

It's very tempting to be attracted to get into the details of an F1 team, but he was not like this, he was staying at his level. And that's a huge thing, really. He wasn't heavy-handed.

He made us do lots of things, but he did that by inspiring us, not by directing us, if that makes sense. That's the most confident form of leadership. Ojjeh wasn't just a good delegator, he was a force of nature who could sweep everyone along with his enthusiasm. Highly ethical. And you can see it in his family, his wife, his kids, his friends.

He was a wealthy man, and he lived accordingly, but it wasn't about being flashy. Very well educated, very worldly, as you can imagine. He was such a motivating force for everyone in the factory. He was a lot more influential and contributed a lot more to McLaren than people may think, because of the way he didn't seek any attention, or didn't want credit.

He very much just saw it as being part of the team. He was a big, big man, a big personality. He wanted everyone to feel included and comfortable. All valued him as a true friend much more than as a boss, and thus those friendships continued for years after they left the team.

Some people might say, 'Zak you can handle the hard stuff. Ojjeh had experienced health issues for several years before undergoing two lung transplants in , and in typical style, few knew about his problems. The second, successful operation gave him a fresh start, although in reality he was living on borrowed time. But that's not what he was about. He lived life to its fullest, great family, great friends, unbelievably successful.

And he just got on with it. Sadly, that extra time ran out for him last weekend. The two former friends had fallen out some years before over a personal matter. Ultra-competitive, determined, passionate and, above all, perhaps his defining characteristic: sporting.

No matter the intensity of the battle, Mansour always put sport first. His easy manner, sharp wit and warm humour touched all those who were fortunate to know him. A joint statement from Mercedes F1 team principal Toto Wolff and parent company Daimler's chair Ola Kallenius said: "Mansour was a business icon with a deep passion for racing.

He will be sadly missed. Hamilton said he had a "heavy heart after the loss of a close friend". The seven-time champion said Ojjeh "had the biggest heart and always carried the biggest smile - I am so grateful to have known such a man". F1 president Stefano Domenicali said: "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. Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso, who raced for McLaren in and again from , said: "So sad for this. One of the best people I have ever met in this sport and a man with a big heart.

Will be truly missed. Ojjeh's involvement in F1 started when his Techniques d'Avant Garde company sponsored Williams in the late s - with world titles following in and Dennis persuaded Ojjeh to go to McLaren and to fund the development of a turbo engine from Porsche, which made its debut late in the season.

In , the McLaren-Tag Porsche dominated F1, the team winning 12 of 16 races and Lauda beating team-mate Prost to the title by the smallest margin in history, half a point. It was the start of a series of waves of success in which McLaren intermittently dominated the sport.

Prost went on to win the and championships, before the team switched to Honda engines from and started a new era of domination following the signing of Senna.