Will Ron Dennis now take charge to ensure McLaren's season finishes in glory?

The cover carried a full-page photo of Dennis and posed a question - 'Is this the best manager in Britain?'. Ron, in his early days not known for his talents as a delegator to others, later said: 'The thing a manager has to remember is that you are being a fool if you try to make yourself the beginning and the end of the company'.

But after this weekend's Hungarian F1 race, Dennis will be asking himself he should be taking a tighter grip of his wayward team - and I suspect that this is just what we will see.

McLaren's 2007 season - the best and the worst of times

Dickens might have been talking about McLaren in 2007 when he wrote 'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times....it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us....'.

The 'spring of hope' comes from the happy coincidence that for the first time since 1999, McLaren has a combination of car and drivers that should win them the F1 Drivers' and Constructors' championships.

The darkness and the despair comes from the fact that with success within sight, a number of human weaknesses have conspired to bring the achievement of that success into question.

The 700 pages of a competitor's technical drawings

The understandably aggrieved Ferrari team claims the discovery of some 700 pages of confidential technical drawings in the hands of the chief designer of its main competitor is not a minor matter. There is, of course, no suggestion that the theft of this material was inspired by or known to Dennis and others at the top of the McLaren hierarchy.

But the fact remains that it happened and, as I suggested a few weeks ago in this column, it borders on incredulity to think that this insider knowledge did not in some way affect the ongoing adjustments made to the of the McLaren car (until, that is, the chief designer was relieved of his duties). This matter is far from dead and it could be a festering sore for McLaren for the rest of the season.

Ego and pride hits McLaren's chances

The astonishing way that Lewis Hamilton has burst onto the F1 scene has enlivened the sport and hugely contributed to the enjoyment of this season. Hamilton seems to be one of those sportsmen who transcend nationality and who can build a following from around the world.

He has the potential, like Tiger Woods or Roger Federer, to appeal not just to the patriotic pride of his countrymen, but to reach out beyond these boundaries and to become international property.

But for McLaren the talent, belief and performance of this brilliant young man has its more problematic side. Managing the relationship between the tyro star and his World Champion team-mate Fernando Alonso is an unexpected challenge for Dennis and his team - and one that so far has not been handled with as much wisdom as they may have liked.

Whatever else Alonso may have expected when he jumped ship to McLaren, a challenge to his results and his ego from within the team has not on the cards. Or so he thought.

The simmering discontent and public spats at the Hungaroring

Most informed observers watching the qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix would have thought that Alonso's tactics in delaying his exit from the pits during qualifying (so denying his team-mate the chance for a final run) were shabby.

The stewards at the meeting clearly agreed and Alonso's banishment to the third row of the grid scuppered his chances of a win on a circuit where overtaking is notoriously difficult.

Earlier in qualifying it seems that Hamilton disobeyed team orders in not allowing Alonso past on the circuit. These two related incidents show that McLaren's declared position that 'we win as a team, we lose as a team' is, at the moment, under serious threat.

The two drivers seem to be on a collision course as each seeks to be the 2007 F1 Driver's champion and there is a real risk that in pursuing this battle they may cancel each other out, leaving the field clear for Ferrari.

Time for Dennis to take charge

Dennis has seen it all before - indeed there's not much that he hasn't seen in nearly 30 years in Formula One. And he knows that when rivalries between drivers and teams lead to irrational and ego-driven behaviour, a cool and steady hand is needed.

If McLaren is to beat Ferrari this year, on and off the track, then it will require all of Dennis' cool and all of his famous leadership skills. And it will also require that he finds a way to create a modus Vivendi between Alonso and Hamilton that keeps them both motivated.

I am sure that Alain Prost, 'Le Professeur', will have a wry smile on his face as he views McLaren's current driver feud and remembers his own long struggle with his great rival Ayrton Senna. They shared four World Championships between them in an earlier McLaren 'best of times'.

Can Dennis find a way to achieve similar success with Alonso and Hamilton? Don't bet against it.