Former Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone was the guest of honour at a surprise party in London this week, organised by Monaco personality and former team boss Flavio Briatore.
Mr Briatore had no problem in assembling top F1 personalities to celebrate the career of the former Grand Prix supremo, who was removed from his executive post earlier this year following the takeover by Liberty Media.
Attending the party were Prince Albert, former Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo and Mercedes boss Toto Wolff. Mr Briatore said later on Instagram: “I organised a ‘surprise dinner’ in London for the 40 years in Formula 1 of Bernie Ecclestone. The amazing thing is that all the people I invited were present. Normally, if you invite 100 people, you have 60 people who confirm they can attend because you are talking about people that are very busy – or who live many thousands of kilometres away.
“But everybody came to London, including Prince Albert of Monaco, Prince Salman of Bahrain, Stefano Domenicali, Piero Ferrari, David Coulthard, Max Mosley, Niki Lauda, and many other people.”
Stating that it was a “kind of tribute to Bernie’s career”, Mr Briatore added, “He was not treated well by the new Formula 1 bosses. People forget easily what this man has created. It was a bit of a sad evening, but very beautiful.”