Former F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone arrested at airport

Bernie Ecclestone, formerly the boss of F1, has reportedly been arrested at Tires Aerodrome in Portugal after his private jet landed there.

The 95-year-old has been accused of having a shotgun when he landed, though he has not yet been formally charged, with Portuguese outlet Correio de Manha reporting that police at the airport apprehended Ecclestone.

They add that it's not currently clear whether he'll end up in front of a judge or not.

It's the second time that Ecclestone has been arrested for possessing a firearm, as it has happened before when he was boarding a private plane in Brazil in 2022.

At the time Ecclestone admitted that he owned the gun which had been found in his luggage, but he insisted he didn't know it was there. After paying bail, he was allowed to get on his flight to Switzerland.

Bernie Ecclestone has been arrested in Portugal and local media reports he was 'carrying a shotgun' at an airport (Joe Portlock/Getty Images)

He later said it was a 'silly, tiny little incident' and denied having been formally arrested, though Sao Paulo's state public security office said they'd arrested an unnamed businessman for possession of a firearm.

Ecclestone had claimed he'd bought a handgun in Brazil some time ago as a deterrent, and didn't have bullets.

He'd said: "They said you need something like this. It might work if someone tried to mug you or something. So I bought it from the guy.

"I had it in the house and used to muck around with it if people came to visit me or something, we would joke around."

The former F1 boss travels between Brazil, Portugal and Switzerland regularly as he has homes in all three countries, and has a private jet he uses to travel around.

Ecclestone was previously arrested in 2022 for having a firearm at an airport, which he says was a 'tiny little incident' (Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

Ecclestone was the founder of the Formula One Group which he started in 1987 and for the next 30 years he controlled the commercial rights to the incredibly popular motor racing sport.

In 2017 he sold it to Liberty Media and stayed on as honorary chairman until 2020, the same year when he became one of the oldest fathers in the world as his son with third wife Fabiana Flosi was born.

While he's no longer in charge of the money side of Formula One he still continued to attend several of the races.

This year's F1 standings have Mercedes looking like they'll come out on top as drivers Andrea Kimi Antonelli and George Russell in first and second place, which is how they ended up at yesterday's (6 September) Italian Grand Prix.