Lawyer: Ecclestone settled case for good of F1

Bernie Ecclestone supporting Felipe Massa

Bernie Ecclestone ended his bribery trial with a record $100 million payment for the good of formula one.

That is the claim of the F1 supremo's lawyer Sven Thomas, who told Forbes he thinks the legal team did a "good job because the other guy got eight and a half years".

In contrast to the jailed Gerhard Gribkowsky, Ecclestone was able to pay the huge price for ending the trial that otherwise would have dragged on for months.

"We have to keep in mind," Thomas told F1 business journalist Christian Sylt, "that formula one must go on and if it went on with this trial for the next five months then it would mean that problems in formula one could arise.

"So Bernie said 'Ok I do not intend to go on with this if I get a settlement without conviction and the presumption of innocence is still valid'.

"The rest of course was just a question of money and that was what Bernie had to decide. I think he really decided on this because he wants to go on with formula one," added Thomas.

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