Bernie Ecclestone Detained in Portugal After Shotgun Found

Bernie Ecclestone’s latest brush with the law unfolded not in a courtroom or a paddock, but on the tarmac of a small Portuguese airfield.

The former Formula 1 supremo, now 95, was stopped and briefly detained on Monday after police discovered a shotgun on his private jet at Tires airfield, near the resort town of Cascais outside Lisbon. The weapon had entered the country without the required documentation, prompting an intervention from Portuguese authorities.

Ecclestone told Reuters by phone from Portugal that the shotgun had travelled with him from Switzerland, where he uses it for clay pigeon shooting. He said he had brought it for a similar event in Portugal but did not have the necessary “blue book” authorisation to import it.

“All that happened is that I took a gun that I've been using in Switzerland for clay pigeon shooting into the country to do some clay pigeon shooting in Portugal at a place where they had this weekend an exhibition thing going on,” he explained.

He landed with his wife Fabiana, a vice-president for sport at Formula 1’s governing body, and passed through customs. The issue surfaced only when police questioned him about the gun and demanded the paperwork he did not have. What followed, he said, was “unnecessary aggravation”.

With Ecclestone unable to resolve the situation on the spot, Fabiana travelled on to Lisbon, accompanied by a customs official, to hand the shotgun over to the authorities.

“So now we've gone through all this and the people in Lisbon have got the gun,” Ecclestone said. “I've signed some documents as they wanted.”

Portuguese newspapers first broke the story, citing police sources who said the shotgun was uncovered during a routine check. Ecclestone, who does not speak Portuguese, owns a home in the neighbouring resort area, making the airfield a familiar gateway rather than an unexpected flashpoint.

The incident carries an echo of a previous episode. In 2022, Ecclestone was briefly detained in Brazil after a small handgun was found in his luggage as he prepared to board a private plane to Switzerland. He admitted owning that weapon but said he did not realise it was in his bag, dismissing the matter at the time as “silly” and “tiny”.

Two countries, two private jets, and two unregistered weapons. For a man who once controlled the commercial heart of Formula 1 for four decades before being ousted in 2017, it is an altogether different kind of scrutiny — and one that shows no sign of easing with age.