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F1 board backs troubled Ecclestone

ESPN Staff
May 20, 2013 « Button expects another step forward in Monaco | Ecclestone expects BMW to return »
'The board agrees I should stay unless I'm convicted' © Getty Images
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At the end of a week where Bernie Ecclestone's future as the head of Formula One has been under the spotlight in view of the possible bribery charges facing him in Germany, the man himself has come out with a characteristically bullish business-as-usual message.

In an interview in the Sunday Times, Ecclestone said the F1 board gave him its backing at a meeting in Geneva at the end of last week. "Everyone voted to support me staying on and running the business," he said. "The board agrees I should stay unless I'm convicted.

"I still don't know what the German prosecutors think. I wish I was guilty - it would be much easier. The charges are a complete load of rubbish."

As has often been the case in recent years, speculation over his likely successor was doing the rounds last week after the news came from Germany that public prosecutors were preparing to start court action against Ecclestone. The name of Sainsbury's chief executive Justin King, whose son drives in Formula 3, emerged as a leading candidate.

Ecclestone, however, was typically dismissive. "I've never met him and there's no way I'm going to," he told the newspaper. "I'll work till I drop and then they can bury me in my bus."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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