Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone is again ready to run Formula One on a full-time basis after ridding himself of what he described as “three-and-a-half years of aggravation”.

After spending three months on trial in a Munich district court on charges of bribery and incitement to breach of trust, on Tuesday Ecclestone paid a $100 million dollars (£60 million) settlement to end the case.

Bavarian state law allows defendants to make such a payment, with no presumption of innocence or guilt, to a non-profit making organisation, or the treasury.

In this instance, $99 million will go directly to the German state, with the remainder to a German charity that looks after terminally-ill children.

It was not the scenario Ecclestone envisaged as he was determined to prove his innocence, but with the trial exacting a toll, the 83-year-old and his defence team decided to make the offer.

“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,” said Ecclestone.

“This trial has been going on for two days a week and it was going to go on until October.

“When you’re trying to run businesses it’s not easy trying to resolve things when you’re dealing with lawyers.”

Gallingly for Ecclestone, if the trial had run its course through to October, in all likelihood he would have been acquitted.

In summation, after deliberating for three hours on the offer made by the defence and agreed by the prosecution, presiding judge Peter Noll declared: “The charges against the accused could not be substantiated.”

Ecclestone said: “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.

“Anyway, it’s done and finished. I’m content, it’s all fine. This now allows me to do what I do best, which is running F1.”