Ron Dennis: McLaren 'let Lewis Hamilton walk away' Ron Dennis has revealed McLaren could have pushed to retain Lewis Hamilton, but chose not to. Hamilton this week started in earnest a three-year deal with Mercedes, ending his 14-year association with McLaren, the last six of which were in Formula One. Dennis said: "I think it's wrong to portray that Lewis left this team. Did we have the ability to create a situation where we could have stayed together? Categorically, yes. Would that have been the right thing to do? We didn't think so.