The claims were officially filed by Boland at an employment tribunal in Southampton where Dennis is scheduled to appear during the course of today. The Englishman insisted that his former employee was laid off due to 'sleeping while at work' and several mistakes during his service.
“I feel it would be wrong for me not to stand up for him at a moment like this, when there's stuff in the press about him being racist or homophobic or not being a good employer or whatnot. All I can say is: that isn't the Ron I know. Ron is no racist; Ron is no homophobe; and Ron is a fantastic employer,” insisted Jordan.
The former owner of Jordan F1 team admitted he has had his differences with Dennis throughout the years – having first met him more than 30 years ago – but them 'not seeing eye to eye' was not caused by personal problems but by racing issues.
“Over the years there have been times when he and I didn't see eye to eye on professional matters – but, to be honest, I guess I can now admit that that was usually because he ran his team a bit better than I ran mine, and that frustrated me,” added Jordan.
The fact that Ron Dennis is regarded as Lewis Hamilton's 'second father' should be reason enough for people not to question his believes in terms of racism, thinks Jordan.
“Ron is the one guy in the motor-racing world who gave a young black boy, Lewis Hamilton, his big break – and Ron did that away from the media spotlight, when Lewis was just 11 years old, and no-one had heard of him, and no-one cared about him, and no-one had even given him a second thought to be honest. No-one else did that for Lewis, although I'm sure his father knocked on a lot of other motor-racing people's doors; no, only Ron did that,” concluded Jordan.
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