Bernie Ecclestone may be forced to step down from his role in Formula 1 if he is officially charged with bribery. German prosecutors have been investigating Ecclestone but have not officially charged him yet. 

Ecclestone has been accused of paying a €45 million bribe to banker Gerhard Gribkowsky to favor CVC in buying a further portion of F1 in 2006. Ecclestone says that he paid Gribkowsky, but it was for blackmail rather than a bribe. Gribkowsky was convicted of taking the money last year. 

Ecclestone said that CVC "will probably be forced to get rid of me if the Germans come after me. It's pretty obvious, if I'm locked up," in an interview with The Sunday Telegraph

"They said they had hired a head-hunter to find somebody in the event that I was not going to be there - if I was going to die or something. It is the normal thing they do to keep people happy," he said.

Source: Autosport