Ecclestone rules out paying to avoid German jail

Bernie Ecclestone on Thursday ruled out paying millions to end his legal troubles in Germany and avoid ten years in jail.

Earlier, it was reported the F1 chief executive could take advantage of an unique German law in being able to negotiate a huge settlement and avoid the criminal trial for bribery.

But Ecclestone told the Daily Mail: "There’s absolutely no way I’ll do that.

"That is not how it works, anyway. We could possibly have come to some sort of arrangement when all this started but we decided not to do that.

"It’s not an option now and we wouldn’t go with it even if it was," the 83-year-old insisted. "We will go to court and present our case. We have nothing at all to hide."