Bernie Ecclestone spent four decades turning Formula One into one of the biggest businesses in sport, and even at 95 he’s still making headlines. This time it’s not a deal or a Grand Prix, it’s an unlicensed shotgun found on his private jet in Portugal. Here’s a clear, fact-checked rundown of who he is, what actually happened this week, and what’s confirmed versus what’s just repeated online.
Background
Bernie Ecclestone, born Bernard Charles Ecclestone, is the British businessman widely credited with turning Formula One from a loosely organized racing series into a multibillion-dollar global sport. He ran the commercial side of F1 as chief executive from 1987 until Liberty Media bought the sport in 2017, negotiating the TV rights and sponsorship deals that made the sport as profitable as it is today. Long after stepping back from day-to-day control, he’s remained a fixture in racing news, partly for his opinions on the sport and partly for the controversies that have followed him, including a 2023 tax fraud conviction in the UK.
People search his name for a mix of reasons: his decades-long influence on Formula One, his colorful family (daughters Tamara and Petra Ecclestone are well-known TV personalities and socialites), and, this week, a firearms incident at a small Portuguese airport that echoes a similar episode from 2022.
Latest Update
As of September 8, 2026, here is what’s currently known. Bernie Ecclestone was detained on Monday, September 7, at Tires Aerodrome near Lisbon, Portugal, after a shotgun was found during an inspection of his private jet, which had flown in from Saanen, Switzerland. Multiple outlets, including the Associated Press, The Washington Post, and Motorsport Week, confirm he was held for several hours and then released. He had reportedly not brought the correct documentation, sometimes called a “blue book,” required to legally transport the firearm into Portugal.
📅 Key date: September 7, 2026 — Bernie Ecclestone detained and later released at Tires Aerodrome, Cascais, Portugal, over an undocumented shotgun.
Speaking to the Daily Mail afterward, Ecclestone said he’d brought the shotgun from Switzerland for clay-pigeon shooting and described the ordeal as “wall-to-wall aggravation,” adding that his wife Fabiana had gone to Lisbon to help sort out the paperwork. Early reports conflict on some detail: one Portuguese outlet said national police made an arrest, while a police spokesperson later told the Daily Mail that border officers hadn’t made that arrest themselves. No charges have been confirmed as of this writing. This isn’t the first such incident for him; he was detained at a Brazilian airport in May 2022 over an undeclared firearm, an episode he called a “silly, tiny little incident” at the time.
⚠️ Note on accuracy: Because reporting is still developing, exact details like whether an arrest was formally made, and whether charges will follow, are not yet fully confirmed. Treat those specific points as still developing rather than settled.
Full Profile
Family and Early Life
Ecclestone was born on October 28, 1930, in St Peter South Elmham, a small hamlet in Suffolk, England. Multiple biography sources, drawing on Forbes’ own profile of him, describe his father as a fisherman and trawler captain and name his parents as Sidney and Bertha Ecclestone; these details are consistent across independent write-ups but haven’t been confirmed in Ecclestone’s own words, so treat the parents’ names specifically as widely reported rather than personally confirmed. The family moved to Bexleyheath in southeast London when he was a child, and he grew up there during the Second World War.
Career Path
Ecclestone left school at 16 and worked testing gas purity at a local gasworks before moving into trading motorcycle parts and used cars after the war. He raced motorcycles and briefly competed in Formula One himself as a driver in 1958, though without success, before shifting into team management and driver representation. He bought the Brabham racing team in 1971 and, over the following decades, built up control of Formula One’s television and commercial rights, eventually founding the Formula One Group in 1987 and running it as CEO until Liberty Media’s 2017 takeover, after which he served briefly as chairman emeritus.
Age
Bernie Ecclestone was born on October 28, 1930, making him 95 years old as of September 2026. This is confirmed by Wikipedia and consistent across every major outlet covering him.
Religion
Ecclestone’s religious beliefs, if any, have not been publicly disclosed. This detail is unconfirmed.
Spouse/Partner
Ecclestone has been married three times. His first marriage, to Ivy Bamford, lasted from 1952 until 1967. His second marriage, to Croatian former model Slavica Radić, ran from 1985 to 2009 and produced daughters Tamara and Petra. He has been married to Brazilian businesswoman Fabiana Flosi since 2012; the two welcomed a son, widely reported as being named Ace (also referred to as Alexander), in July 2020, when Ecclestone was 89.
Net Worth
Forbes-derived estimates have placed Ecclestone’s fortune at roughly $2.5 to $2.9 billion in recent years, down from a peak of around $4.2 billion in 2011 that made him the fourth-richest person in the UK at the time. The drop is generally attributed to his 2009 divorce settlement with Slavica Ecclestone. As with any billionaire net worth figure, this is a media estimate rather than a number Ecclestone has confirmed himself, so treat the exact figure as an informed estimate rather than a verified fact.
Parents
As noted above, Ecclestone’s parents are widely reported as Sidney Ecclestone, a fisherman, and Bertha Ecclestone. This detail traces back consistently to Forbes-sourced profiles, though it remains unconfirmed directly by Ecclestone.
Height
Ecclestone is commonly reported to be around 5 feet 3 inches (1.59 meters) tall, a detail repeated so consistently across biography sources and press coverage of his family that it’s treated as reliably reported, even though it hasn’t been confirmed by an official measurement.
Education
He attended a primary school in Wissett, Suffolk, then Dartford West Central Secondary School in Bexleyheath, leaving at age 16. He later studied chemistry at Woolwich Polytechnic while working, before moving fully into business.
Hometown/State of Origin
Ecclestone was born in Suffolk, England, and raised in Bexleyheath, southeast London, from around age eight. He has since split his time between homes in Switzerland, Brazil, and Portugal.
Official Social Media
Ecclestone doesn’t maintain an actively managed personal social media account in the way many modern public figures do; his most reliable, regularly updated public profile is his Wikipedia page, which is kept current with sourced career and biographical updates.
Quick Facts Table
| Category | Detail | Verification Status |
|---|---|---|
| Full Name | Bernard Charles Ecclestone | Confirmed |
| Born | October 28, 1930, Suffolk, England | Confirmed |
| Age | 95 | Confirmed |
| Known For | Former CEO, Formula One Group (1987–2017) | Confirmed |
| Spouse | Fabiana Flosi (m. 2012); previously Slavica Radić, Ivy Bamford | Confirmed |
| Children | 4, including Tamara and Petra Ecclestone | Confirmed |
| Height | Approx. 5’3″ (1.59m) | Widely reported, not officially measured |
| Net Worth | Approx. $2.5–2.9 billion | Media estimate |
| 2023 Legal Case | Convicted of tax fraud, £650m+ settlement, suspended sentence | Confirmed |
| Sept 2026 News | Detained and released in Portugal over unlicensed shotgun | Confirmed by AP, Washington Post |
Reader Questions (FAQ)
Was Bernie Ecclestone arrested in Portugal?
He was detained at a small airport near Lisbon on September 7, 2026, after a shotgun was found on his jet without the correct permit, and released a few hours later. Reports differ on whether it was a formal arrest or just a detention, and no charges have been confirmed yet.
How old is Bernie Ecclestone?
He was born on October 28, 1930, which makes him 95 years old as of September 2026.
What is Bernie Ecclestone’s net worth?
Media estimates, based largely on Forbes’ methodology, put his fortune at roughly $2.5 to $2.9 billion. That’s down from about $4.2 billion in 2011, mainly due to his 2009 divorce settlement.
Who is Bernie Ecclestone married to?
He has been married to Brazilian businesswoman Fabiana Flosi since 2012. He was previously married to Slavica Radić from 1985 to 2009 and to Ivy Bamford from 1952 to 1967.
How many children does Bernie Ecclestone have?
He has four children: Deborah, from his first marriage; Tamara and Petra, from his marriage to Slavica; and a son, widely reported as Ace, born in 2020 with Fabiana Flosi.
Why did Bernie Ecclestone go to prison — or did he?
He did not serve prison time. In October 2023 he was convicted of tax fraud, agreed to pay HM Revenue and Customs over £650 million in back taxes and penalties, and received a 17-month prison sentence that was suspended for two years.
Wrap-Up
Bernie Ecclestone’s story is really two stories layered on top of each other: the deal-maker who reshaped Formula One into a global commercial powerhouse, and the headline-generating figure whose personal life, legal troubles, and now airport run-ins keep his name in the news decades after he stepped back from running the sport day to day.
The Portugal shotgun incident fits a pattern rather than breaking new ground — his second publicly reported firearm mishap at an airport in four years. So far it looks like a documentation issue rather than a criminal case, though that could change as Portuguese authorities finish reviewing it. Until there’s an official word on charges, the responsible read is that this is resolved for now, not an ongoing legal crisis.
What’s not in question is Ecclestone’s outsized role in modern motorsport history. Whatever headline he makes next, his four decades running Formula One’s commercial engine remain the reason people are still searching his name in the first place.
Thomas Andrew is the founder of Odubio.com, a digital platform sharing inspiring biographies, news, and stories about global icons and achievers.