Friday 7 November at 06:28 : Nov.7 (GMM) Bernie Ecclestone has played down the possibility that Timo Glock and Toyota were in cahoots in the decisive moments of McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton's championship victory in Brazil last Sunday

Because of the German's incredibly slow final tour of the wet Interlagos circuit, albeit as he struggled with dry tyres, conspiracy theories have raged that he deliberately handed Hamilton fifth place so that the Briton won the drivers' title rather than Ferrari's Felipe Massa

45 per cent of the 20,000 respondents on Germany's RTL website answered 'yes' to a poll about whether they thought Glock's actions were deliberate

"I would think the likelihood of Glock being in league with McLaren is about zero, but you can never say 'no way', can you, because you never know?" F1 chief executive Ecclestone told The Times

In a subsequent interview, with BBC radio's Radio 5 Live programme, the 78-year-old billionaire stepped away from claims of a race 'fix' even further

He slammed the conspiracy theories as "complete and utter nonsense"

"I'm quite sure Glock had no idea what the position with everybody was at that time. He had enough problems keeping the car on the road

"It's not even worth thinking about," Ecclestone added

Toyota's denials have also been robust, and 26-year-old Glock - who very recently was an open critic of Hamilton's aggressive driving style - was incredulous when La Gazzetta dello Sport put the theory to him straight after the race

"Are you taking the Mickey?" he grimaced