Ron Dennis refused to accept it yesterday but his decision to step down as head of the team he has led for almost three decades is the end of a sporting era. Dennis took over McLaren in 1980 and, in the 28 years since, produced five remarkable Formula One world champions and built a company that stands as an example of all that is best in British industry.

Although rumours of his departure as team principal have circulated the Formula One paddock for months, Dennis's announcement at the launch of McLaren's challenger for the 2009 World Championship still came as a bombshell for those who regard him as one of the fixtures and fittings of the sport. When Dennis started life on the Formula One pitwall, Enzo Ferrari was in his pomp, towering over the sport.

But Dennis went on to create what is arguably the most successful team in the sport, making champions of Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna, Mika Hakkinen, Niki Lauda and, last season, Lewis Hamilton.

Although Ferrari have more race victories and driver champions, the team have been in Formula One since the start of the modern world championship in 1950, unlike the relative youngsters from Woking in Surrey.

McLaren is being passed into safe hands, though, in the shape of Martin Whitmarsh, McLaren's chief executive and Dennis's right-hand man for the past 20 years. He will take over the decision-making on race days, replacing Dennis who has been a familiar sight to Formula One fans the world over.

There is no doubt that this was both the best and the worst time for Dennis to move on. He would probably have gone a year earlier, but for the appalling scandal of Spygate - the furore over McLaren's appropriation of secret Ferrari documents - and Lewis Hamilton losing the championship by a single point at the final race of the 2007 season. Dennis was deeply scarred by the events of that year but is not a man to leave on such a low.

Last season was a demonstration of Dennis's immense grit and single-mindedness, with Hamilton, Dennis's personal protege, winning an electrifying championship and McLaren's reputation restored. It was a fine time to hang up the pitwall headphones.

But the recession has also focussed the mind of a man, who has taken his company beyond the confines of motor racing and Formula One. Unlike other teams, McLaren is a multi-faceted and multi-national technology business, the sort to make Gordon Brown glow with pride. Dennis built the business from scratch and McLaren's headquarters is now a glittering, £250 million, Norman Foster-designed building on the outskirts of Woking that stands as a temple of innovation.

It demonstrates that McLaren is more than two cars on the grand prix grid. Dennis wants direct his attention away from Formula One to the challenge of keeping his entire business growing. He calls it "powering through the recession", and, if he is as successful at that as he was in Formula One, McLaren will remain a beacon of British technology.