If Bernie Ecclestone is charged with bribery, it will be the end of the 82-year-old Briton’s long and famous reign over formula one.
That is the claim of a source, who was commenting in the wake of reports at the weekend that German prosecutors are close to indicting F1’s chief executive over the Gerhard Gribkowsky affair.
According to Suddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, the next step would be a court deciding if it should hear the case, with a trial to shortly follow.
The Financial Times said one option for Ecclestone would be for him to negotiate a settlement with the prosecutors.
But "Irrespective of whether he manages to settle," a source told the newspaper, "he would be gone from F1 by the end of the year."
Ecclestone told Reuters last weekend in Barcelona: "I’ve not heard from anybody. Let’s wait and see what happens."