No trial decision for Ecclestone until September

The Munich court will wait until mid-September to decide if the Bernie Ecclestone bribery case will be brought to trial.

The court decided in May to prosecute F1's chief executive for paying a $44 million bribe amid the sale of the sport to CVC some years ago.

The charges were finally received in English by Ecclestone and his lawyers on Wednesday.

The 82-year-old Briton's lawyers said in a statement that they will reply vigorously to the charges, which they say rely heavily on the testimony of jailed German banker Gerhard Gribkowsky.

"The main topic of the response will be the changing 'confessions' of Mr Gribkowsky," the statement said.

Ecclestone told the Financial Times on Wednesday: "It will be an interesting case."

The court reportedly said a decision about whether to send the charges to trial would probably not be made until mid-September.

A court spokesman confirmed those reports, adding that Ecclestone's defense team has until mid-August to submit a response to the charges.

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Leopold

Leopold Pleijsier founded F1-Fansite.com in 2001 and has followed Formula 1 since the early 1980s. He writes about daily F1 news, race weekends, drivers and the sport’s history.

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