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Bernie Ecclestone proves himself a card

SAO PAULO, BRAZIL - NOVEMBER 08:  F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone speaks with Infiniti Red Bull Racing Team Principal Christian Horner and team consultant Dr
Image: SAO PAULO, BRAZIL - NOVEMBER 08: F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone speaks with Infiniti Red Bull Racing Team Principal Christian Horner and team consultant Dr

A mischievous Bernie Ecclestone has proved himself a card by sending out a Christmas message seemingly mocking both himself and his bribery trial in Germany earlier this year.

In a Christmas card sent to the Reuters news agency by the F1 supremo, a cartoon-character horseman is depicted pointing a gun at Ecclestone – holding a bag of swag marked as containing $100m – while declaring: “This is not a robbery. I am collecting for the Bavarian state”.

Inside the card, Ecclestone adds: "Maybe now we can have a Formula One race in the really nice city of Munich, Germany."

In August, Ecclestone settled his bribery trial in Munich after paying state prosecutors £60m.

"The bottom line is it's been three and a half years of aggravation, travelling, meeting lawyers, and God knows what else, so it is good it is out of the way,” the 84-year-old said at the time.

"In the end what has happened today is good and bad; the good is the judge more or less said I was acquitted, and they [the prosecution] really didn't have a case.

"So I was a bit of an idiot to do what I did to settle.”

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