In the 1980s, the Formula One corporate hospitality outfit amounted to little more than giving warm beer and packets of crisps to punters. Who would have thought that just 20 years later it would be an industry with annual revenues of some $140m? Bernie Ecclestone and Paddy McNally, that’s who.

Corporate hospitality is not a frivolous extra. The teams sparingly supply sponsors with their share of passes for entry to the exclusive Paddock Club that is set up at all events. In turn, sponsors use the opportunity to indulge their own clients.