Ralf Schumacher says he could never have worked for 76-year-old F1 team principal

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Ralf Schumacher has admitted that he could have never worked under Ron Dennis as a Formula 1 team principal.

The 48-year-old German spent more than a decade in the sport driving for Jordan, Williams and Toyota.

However, speaking on the Formula For Success Podcast, Schumacher admitted that even co-host Eddie Jordan was easier to deal with the 76-year-old.

Ron Dennis is one of the most successful people in Formula 1 history.

Although he was a team boss at McLaren, he was also the owner, CEO, chairman and founder of the McLaren Group.

He was team principal at the team for nearly 30 years, winning plenty of Constructors’ Championships.

Dennis also oversaw some of the best drivers in Formula 1 history winning world titles.

The likes of Niki Lauda, Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna and Lewis Hamilton all achieved great success under his leadership.

However, Ralf Schumacher has admitted he could never have worked under Dennis as a team principal.

In his final years in Formula 1, he had disagreements with Martin Whitmarsh and he had a difficult relationship with Mansour Ojjeh who was a part-owner of the team.

Schumacher was a fiery character as well and the pair may not have seen eye to eye very often had they worked together.

Schumacher admits he couldn’t have worked with Dennis as team principal

Asked about his relationship with his first team boss Eddie Jordan, Schumacher said: “No, no, no, that’s not true. First of all, he gave me the opportunity.

“It could have been worse, I could have ended up with Ron Dennis! I’m completely happy that that didn’t happen I have to say.

“I think I couldn’t work with a man like that, so no I’m happy.

“I mean you know Eddie [Jordan], for him it was his business, it was his baby and I’m sure it wasn’t always easy.

“And I remember at that time we made proper motor racing, 16 to 18 times a year, amazing cars, sounds, look.

“We had a nice track, nice catering, not as big as today, but always fancy and for I think 10% of the money if that’s before the budget cap.”

Schumacher doesn’t hold back on his concerns about working with Dennis as a team principal.

Things have changed a lot at McLaren now with Zak Brown and Andrea Stella providing a more supportive environment for their two young drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

You can’t deny that Dennis brought a lot of success to McLaren and the team were challenged for titles for decades under his guise.

The modern McLaren team will be hoping they can emulate that success sooner rather than later.