The settlement of the Bernie Ecclestone/Gerhard Gribkowsky (alleged) bribery affair by the Munich bench spelt an extraordinary ending to an extraordinary affair.
Both the hearing and subsequent swift ending created headlines across the world, and proved once again that Formula 1's backstories still abound even when the sport itself is on summer vacation.
The story is a mirror of F1 itself, high stakes, evidence being given of secret meetings held in exotic locations between bankers, lawyers and the sport's supreme negotiator, money trails stretching across tax havens galore as transfers made their ways from bank account to secret bank account, finally ending up in a trust (Sunshine Foundation) in Austria.