Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone has revealed longtime McLaren boss Ron Dennis is fighting a move by shareholders to force him out of the team.
Ecclestone said at the Brazilian Grand Prix, that he feared the 69-year-old Briton may have lost the battle already.
"There was a court case yesterday where he wanted to overturn what had happened and he lost the case unfortunately, which is a pity because we don't want to lose Ron," Ecclestone said.
Asked whether that meant Dennis was effectively out, he replied: "Apparently so, yes. I think he's appealing so he may win the appeal."
Sky News reported on Friday that Bahrain's sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat and Saudi-born businessman Mansour Ojjeh, who between them hold 75 per cent of the shares, wanted to oust Dennis.
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The report said an unidentified consortium of Chinese investors had made a 1.65 billion pound takeover bid for McLaren, which Dennis supported but the other shareholders opposed.
Sky cited sources as saying Dennis had failed to secure a High Court injunction against a move to sideline him until his contract expired in mid-January, and an emergency board meeting had been convened for Friday.
McLaren would not comment on the report when approached by Reuters and the other shareholders could not be reached for reaction.
Dennis, who has been involved with former champions McLaren since 1980 and is one of Formula One's biggest names, stood down as team principal in 2009 but returned as group chief executive in January 2014.
McLaren changed their name in 2014 to McLaren Technology Group, incorporating the sports car company and applied technologies as well as the F1 team.
