Formula 1 shareholder CVC would not hesitate to sack motor sport boss Bernie Ecclestone if he had committed a crime in his dealings with a jailed German banker, CVC co-founder Donald Mackenzie told a court on Monday.

Mackenzie denied that Ecclestone, who has built Formula 1 into a global money-spinner over the past four decades, was being kept in his post because of his importance to the business. Ecclestone remains a hands-on chief executive at the age of 83.

“If it is proven that Mr Ecclestone has done anything that is criminally wrong, we would fire him,” Mackenzie told a hearing at London’s High Court.

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