Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMcLaren

'Tyler was a special person to me' - Ecclestone

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Bernie Ecclestone has paid his own tribute to his friend Tyler Alexander, who has died at the age of 75.

Alexander passed away on Thursday, with a number of figures in F1 taking to social media to pay their respects to one of the founders of the McLaren team. Ron Dennis described Alexander as "one of the finest of the old school", having brought the American back to McLaren in 1989 where he stayed until retirement at the end of 2008.

Ron Dennis' tribute to Tyler Alexander

Ecclestone has now offered his own tribute to Alexander, who he has described as "a special person to me" following his long association with McLaren and F1.

"Tyler Alexander was a true motor racing man, passionate, knowledgeable and the kindest of people," Ecclestone told the official Formula One website. "He worked with some of the greatest drivers, spanning nearly 50 years.

"He was a friend and had been through his days in motorsport. Tyler was a special person to me. He understood people and the sport. I am going to miss him."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.