Dennis: I hired Alonso because he is the best driver in F1

Alonso, Dennis and McLaren had 'history' as a result of that explosive 2007 season, the double F1 World Champion spent with the team alongside rookie Lewis Hamilton. What transpired and how it ended is well documented.

Thus when the Spaniard was lured back to McLaren in 2015 by Dennis himself, the F1 world was stunned and now it emerges in Benson's report why the former McLaren supremo signed him again despite the bad blood.

Benson wrote: "Some time ago, in a surprisingly open casual conversation, Dennis told me: The one thing you shouldn't miss is how young he came in (to F1), who was around him influencing him and how he developed a much better and more mature approach to his motor racing."

Dennis continued, "The Fernando Alonso that was signed for McLaren in this last period was a very different animal from the Fernando Alonso who signed to discontinue his relationship with Renault."

"I'm talking about, if you say a normal learning curve of a young person sits at, say, a 10-degree incline, his was like 45 degrees. In other words, he went up a very steep learning curve and that changed significantly his character.

"He was unbelievably patient and understanding in the first year, the second year less so and then of course it was just pure frustration. That person then, how he handled that period, he would never have been able to handle it at any earlier stage of his career.

"Why did I take him back? Because I still rate him and I still believe he is one of the best if not the best driver in F1, and he was available to us, and I believed it was the right thing for the team because he'd matured."

"You'd find it hard to believe I made that decision, but things change," added Dennis who was removed from his McLaren management roles in 2016, ending his 37-year association with the company he resurrected.