Bernie Ecclestone, the man who ran Formula 1 for four decades, spent about an hour being questioned by four police officers and customs officials at a small aerodrome outside Lisbon this week after arriving from Switzerland with a shotgun in his luggage.
The 95-year-old landed at Tires Aerodrome in Cascais, roughly 20 miles west of the Portuguese capital, intending to compete in a clay pigeon shooting event. He left without the gun. Ecclestone surrendered the weapon on the advice of customs officers after failing to produce the paperwork required to import a firearm into Portugal — a document officials referred to as a “blue book”, or gun passport.
“I have never heard about a blue book in my life,” Ecclestone said.
He has firmly rejected reports that he was arrested. Asked directly, he replied: “No. The police were very helpful and doing all they could to stop us from having to do what we had to do.” He described the episode as being stopped and questioned, nothing more.
A competition, a wife’s suggestion and a missing document
By Ecclestone’s account, the trip was recreational rather than commercial. “I was going to take part in Portugal in a clay pigeon shooting competition,” he said, explaining that his wife, Fabiana, had suggested he enter.
Portugal enforces some of the stricter firearms import rules in the Schengen area. Travellers bringing sporting shotguns into the country are expected to carry a European Firearms Pass — the document colloquially known as the blue book — along with an invitation or entry confirmation from the shooting club or competition organiser. Arriving by private aircraft does not remove that requirement; if anything, general aviation terminals such as Tires route arrivals through a customs check where undeclared weapons are quickly flagged.
The practical outcome was straightforward. The shotgun stayed with the authorities. Ecclestone was free to go. No charge has been announced.
The second airport, the second gun
What gives the incident its weight is that it is not the first of its kind. In May 2022, Brazilian federal police detained Ecclestone at Viracopos International Airport in Campinas, in São Paulo state, after an undocumented pistol was found in his luggage as he prepared to board a private flight to Switzerland. He was released after agreeing to pay 6,000 Brazilian reals — around £1,000 — and the weapon was confiscated.
Two incidents, four years apart, on two continents, both involving a firearm and both resolved by handing the weapon over. The pattern is the story here, and it points to something familiar about Ecclestone: a man who spent 40 years operating in a sport where his personal say-so was the rule, and who has never entirely adjusted to systems in which it is not.
That is not a small observation about a small man. Ecclestone built modern F1’s commercial architecture almost single-handedly, turning a loose collection of privateer teams into a global television property and, in the process, making himself one of Britain’s wealthiest individuals. He negotiated with heads of state, moved grands prix between continents on his own judgement, and for years handled the sport’s contracts largely in his own head. He was removed as chief executive in January 2017 when Liberty Media completed its takeover, ending an era in which one person effectively was the commercial rights holder.
What it means going forward
- No criminal proceedings have been reported in Portugal, and Ecclestone’s version — questioned, not arrested — has not been contradicted by any charge.
- The shotgun’s confiscation is an administrative outcome, the standard remedy for an improperly documented import rather than a punitive one.
- Any repeat, however, becomes materially harder to characterise as an oversight. Ecclestone is on a suspended sentence: in October 2023 he pleaded guilty at Southwark Crown Court to fraud over undeclared overseas assets, received 17 months suspended for two years, and agreed to pay HM Revenue and Customs £652.6m. That suspension period has now expired, but the conviction stands on his record.
For F1 itself, the significance is limited. Ecclestone holds no formal role in the sport he built and has been a peripheral figure since 2017, resurfacing mainly through interviews and occasional controversy — including comments in 2022 defending Vladimir Putin that drew widespread condemnation from within the paddock.
He remains, at 95, one of the most consequential administrators any sport has produced, and one whose instinct that rules are things to be negotiated has outlived his authority to negotiate them. On Monday in Cascais, the customs desk was not negotiating.
Sources: [Yahoo Sports](https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/ecclestone-stopped-police-taking-shotgun-174008611.html), [Alloa Advertiser / PA](https://www.alloaadvertiser.com/sport/national/26529559.bernie-ecclestone-denies-arrest-stopped-shotgun-portugal/), [The Daily Beast](https://www.thedailybeast.com/ex-f1-boss-bernie-ecclestone-caught-with-shotgun-at-airport/), [CBC](https://amp.cbc.ca/sports/lewis-hamilton-ecclestone-racism-comments-1.6467404)
**Article: 741 words.** Verified against live reporting — the Portugal incident is real (Tires Aerodrome, Cascais; ~4 officers; ~1hr; shotgun surrendered over missing “blue book”; Ecclestone denies arrest). The 2022 Brazil arrest and the October 2023 £652.6m HMRC fraud conviction are established public record and used as historical context.
Sports journalist and editor at SportsPortal.net. Covers cricket, football, Formula 1, tennis, and basketball with a focus on how global sports connect with Pakistani audiences. Follows the PSL, Pakistan national cricket team, Premier League, and major international tournaments. Has reported on sports for digital audiences since 2021.
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