Bernie Ecclestone faces £1bn divorce pay-out

In a 58-second hearing in the High Court Family Division on Wednesday, Bernie Ecclestone, the diminutive Formula 1 chief, was divorced by his Croatian-born wife Slavica on the grounds of "unreasonable behaviour". The demise of their marriage means Ecclestone will now have to instigate a legal battle to wrest back a considerable amount of his reputed £2.4 billion fortune, which, for tax purposes, he unwisely placed in off-shore accounts in his wife’s name.

Both parties have called in the big guns. Ecclestone, 78, has hired the hot-shot solicitor Helen Ward, who last year achieved Britain's biggest ever divorce settlement in similar circumstances. She won a pay-out of £48 million for Beverly Charman, former wife of the insurance millionaire John Charman. Much of the couple's money was held in offshore trusts.

Slavica, who at 6ft 2in towers above her 5ft 4in former husband , has instructed Liz Vernon, the solicitor who secured a ground-breaking divorce for the former Arsenal footballer Ray Parlour's wife, Karen, which obliged him to pay a huge lump sum plus a third of future earnings.  

It looks like being a tough fight for Ecclestone. Slavica , 50, a former model who met her husband and father of their two daughters at a racetrack, is a non-domiciled UK resident who was entrusted to look after the money for her husband in accounts in Liechtenstein and Jersey. Legal experts claim this is impossible to undo and have predicted that she could walk away with a £1bn settlement. ·