Berlin: Formula One magnate Bernie Ecclestone admits finding the opening day of his German trial stressful as he faced bribery charges which threaten to land the British billionaire in jail.

"It was an exhausting first day. The judge, the prosecutors and my lawyers all speak German, I don't," Ecclestone told German daily Bild from his London office after his first court date in Munich on Thursday. "Although I had an interpreter translating every word simultaneously, it was still stressful to follow everything as it was being said."