Dennis forced out of McLaren after 35 years

The 69-year-old relinquish his duties at the team, who are the sport's second most successful despite not having won a race for four years, following a decision by the majority shareholders to place him on gardening leave.

"I am disappointed that the representatives of TAG and Mumtalakat, the other main shareholders in McLaren, have forced through this decision to place me on gardening leave, despite the strong warnings from the rest of the management team about the potential consequences of their actions on the business," he said in a statement on Tuesday.

"The grounds they have stated are entirely spurious..."

Dennis owns 25 percent of McLaren Group, while Bahrain's sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat owns 50 percent and Saudi-born businessman Mansour Ojjeh, the CEO of TAG, holds the remaining 25 percent.

Dennis, who has been involved with former champions McLaren since 1980 and is one of F1's biggest names, stood down as team principal in 2009 but returned as group chief executive in January 2014.