Bernie Ecclestone’s astonishing story: A gun, a threat, a deal-gone-wrong

The ex-F1 supremo revealed the story from his remarkable life during ‘Lucky’, his Discovery+ documentary.

"I’d bought a car from someone and then found out it was finance so the guy didn’t own the car," Ecclestone said. 

"So I stopped the cheque and the guy duly appeared to explain to me how he’d like the cheque cleared, and produced a gun from under his sweater to show me.

"I explained to him I didn’t know what he was going to do with it, you know. It certainly wasn’t a pain to come to some agreement about something, and: ‘If you shoot me, the cheque won’t be cleared. Let’s have a chat’.

"So we went to the office and discussed things and obviously, we sorted it out. I paid him, cleared off the finance - or said I was going to. And paid the difference. And then he became a very good customer from then on in!”

Ecclestone, now aged 92, sold F1 to Liberty Media in 2017.

Last year he denied that he had been arrested in Brazil for illegally carrying a gun. He acknowledged a gun was found in his possession but said it was never used.

He called it a "silly, tiny little incident" to Reuters, who were told by Brazilian police that a businessman was arrested for carrying a gun.

"It was a bleeding drama, unnecessary, over a nothing,” he said, after admitting he carried a gun as a deterrent.

Ecclestone was charged with fraud in 2022 after reportedly failing to declare £400m worth of overseas assets.