17/01/2018
NEWS STORY
Getting into Ron Dennis' leaving do at the weekend was surely one of the hottest tickets in town, the former McLaren man hosting the event at London's Royal Albert Hall.
With Cirque du Soleil providing the entertainment - understood to have been insect themed acrobatics - the £300,000 bash is said to have seen many of the great and the good from McLaren's long history in attendance.
Guest of honour was Bernie Ecclestone, who, like Dennis, knows exactly what it's like to be shown the door after many decades of service, and how wonderful it would have been to be a fly on the wall as the ongoing antics of McLaren and Liberty were surely discussed.
Among the no-shows was Lewis Hamilton, who from his teens was guided and supported by Dennis and McLaren, the Briton moving to Mercedes in 2013 in a shock move which subsequently saw him add a further 3 titles to his tally.
Following Cirque du Soleil's performance, Dennis gave a moving farewell speech to the estimated 3,000 guests - most of whom are former McLaren employees - in which he poked fun at himself including his OCD-like attention to detail.
Revealing he had once picked up an errant piece of paper on his office floor and was subsequently almost choked when his tie got caught up in the shredder with the paper, he turned to the confetti strewn stage and admitted: "You can imagine how much I am struggling with this lot."
A class act.