Former Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone ran into some legal troubles during a recent trip to Cascais, Portugal.
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Ecclestone, who ran the open wheel series between 1978 and 2017, had to surrender his shotgun to local police after passing through customs at the regional airport Tires Aerodrome. He had traveled to Portugal to compete in a clay pigeon shooting competition.
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However, he told The Athletic during a phone interview that he had spent around 30 to 45 minutes being interviewed by police. His wife, Fabiana, then had to travel an hour to Lisbon to surrender the weapon. He will have to find specific documentation in order to retrieve the shotgun.
When I got out of Customs, somebody said the police would like to talk to you," Ecclestone told The Athletic. "Because I know the Customs people quite well, I said sure and went to see the police.
"They asked if I had a gun here and I said yes. They then asked if I had all the documents for the gun and I then asked what documents.
"They said there is a blue book that normally goes with the gun and I said I have never seen a blue book, and I don't know what the documents are."
This is not the first time that Ecclestone has run into a legal issue at an airport due to a weapon. He previously reportedly paid a £1,000 bail charge in 2022 after having a handgun discovered in his luggage at Viracopos International Airport in Brazil.
He explained to the Athletic that this particular incident in 2022 stemmed from a mechanic on a racing team telling him that he needed the gun in Brazil due to the country being dangerous. Someone else then packed the gun in his luggage.
Ecclestone, 95, has enjoyed a long career in F1 while holding multiple roles. He competed as a team owner, and he celebrated multiple World Drivers' Championships with Brabham and Nelson Piquet. He also shaped the racing series as its leader over the decades.
The longtime executive hired doctor Sid Watkins, who called for increased safety measures in the sport. Ecclestone led the sale of the television rights to the sport, which had long-reaching financial impacts. He and his companies also handled the logistics of each Grand Prix until he sold controlling interest to Liberty Media in 2017.
