SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium, Aug 22 DPA - Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone says he remains in full control of the sport after the end of his court case in Germany and plans to be there as long as he can.
Ecclestone, 83, paid $US100 million ($A108.2 million) to end a Munich trial on suspicion of bribery in connection with the sale of F1 rights from the German bank to the CVC company which now runs the sport.
The Briton is now set to return to the CVC board he left for the trial, but, having run the day-to-day business all the time, he told autosport.com in an interview published Friday that "nothing ever changed".
"It was a couple of days I wasn't in the office, that was all. But it is better because I had to do things at the weekend to catch up with what I missed," he said.
The weekend's Belgian Grand Prix is Ecclestone's first post-trial race, and he told the BBC at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit that he never feared to go to prison and wants to remain in charge "as long as I can."
Back in full business now, Ecclestone will have to tackle various problems in the sport such as lower attendance and TV viewers.
A working group has been set up but Ecclestone told autosport that recent races have been spectacular and that not only F1 is suffering.
"We were talking to TV people about that. They (the figures) seem to have dropped everywhere - all sports. And not just sport - other things. There are too many other things to look at," he said.
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