Wife of ex-F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone ‘buys £35million ocean view mansion in Portugal’ in country’s ‘largest ever private house sale’

The wife of former F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone is believed to have bought a £35 million mansion in Portugal with views of the Atlantic Ocean.

Reputable Portuguese daily Correio da Manha He described the deal as the ‘largest private home sale in the country.’

Reports suggest that Fabiana Flosi, who is 46 years younger than 95-year-old Ecclestone, has agreed to buy the property in the Quinta da Marinha resort area in Cascais.

It is thought that the sale of the property, located approximately 25 kilometers west of Portugal’s capital Lisbon, was completed three months ago after half a year of negotiations.

According to Correio da Manha, the previous owner of the facility was Portuguese entrepreneur Marco Galinha, founder of the Grupo BEL business group.

Features of the mansion include a large pool, tennis court and internal elevator.

Ecclestone married Brazilian marketing director Fabiana in August 2012 at his chalet in the exclusive Swiss resort of Gstaad.

It was reported that she was seen yesterday with her two daughters at a fish restaurant called O Furnas do Guincho in Cascais.

According to Portuguese newspaper Correio da Manha, which first published the photos, the mansion’s features include a large pool, tennis court and internal elevator.

Bernie Ecclestone, 95, and Fabiana, 46, were shot in November 2013 and married in August 2012.

Potential neighbors at the couple’s new home in Cascais include Portugal captain and former Real Madrid and Manchester United football star Cristiano Ronaldo.

He owns a £30 million mansion in Quinta da Marinha, located within the Sintra-Cascais Natural Park.

Last year, Fabiana opened up about how she and Ecclestone are navigating parenting their five-year-old son Ace, despite their age difference.

In an interview with German newspaper Bild, he said: ‘Bernie and I are a team and we train Ace as a team.

‘If I get a little impatient, Bernie explains to him in his usual calm and quiet way that he can only watch TV for half an hour after doing his homework.’

He added: ‘It’s not easy for us to explain to Ace that online, tablet and YouTube are only available on Tuesdays, while his classmates are allowed to do this every day.

‘I think it’s a good idea for him to get his first mobile phone when he’s 12 or 14.’

Ecclestone also said in an interview on his 95th birthday: ‘Ace is a great kid. ‘He’s smart, curious and interested in everything.’

Mr and Mrs Ecclestone are seen with son Ace at the Brazilian Grand Prix in November 2023

Ecclestone was Formula 1’s chief executive until he was replaced by Irish-American Chase Carey in 2017.

Last October, it was reported that he put his two yachts up for sale, claiming that he had ’emptied his life and fortune’.

Ecclestone, worth around £2.4bn, has confirmed he is selling his superyacht ‘Petara’, named after his children Petra and Tamara from his second marriage to Croatian former model Slavica Radic.

‘We just sold it,’ Fabiana told Bild, adding: ‘We only used it eight days a year. ‘We don’t need such a big yacht for this.’

It is not known who bought the superyacht or for how much, but the luxury ship was previously valued at £17 million with an annual operating cost of £1.7 million.

Father-of-four Ecclestone had already cashed in on his collection of 69 supercars after selling them to Red Bull co-owner Mark Mateschitz earlier in the year.

The final price of the sale was never disclosed but estimates suggested the collection was worth £500 million.

Confirming the deal at the time, Ecclestone said: ‘These are unique vehicles. They wrote sports history and achieved technical milestones. These represent 70 years of F1 history.

‘It is very important for me to know that this collection is now in the best hands.’

The latest sales follow a 2023 London court case in which Ecclestone admitted misleading officials about assets abroad and paid £750 million in back taxes.

Bernie Ecclestone with daughters Petra (left) and Tamara (right) at the inaugural fundraising dinner for the Petra Stunt Foundation at the Corinthia Hotel in London in June 2017

The case resulted in a 17-month suspended prison sentence and Ecclestone was spared prison despite admitting he had hidden £416 million from HMRC.

The court heard the billionaire concealed the existence of a trust in Singapore when HMRC investigators questioned him about his tax affairs in July 2015.

Officers asked Ecclestone whether he was a settlor or beneficiary of any trust within or outside the UK and he replied: ‘No.’

Judge Bryan said this was a lie because the businessman was actually linked to two complex trust structures known as the Kinan trust and the Nanki trust.

Ecclestone’s lawyer, Clare Montgomery, said he never intended to avoid paying taxes and was unaware of the true state of his affairs at the time.

Ecclestone left school at 16 and was running a car dealership by 21.

He entered Formula One in 1972 by purchasing the Brabham team for £100,000 and then used his seat on the Constructors’ Association board to acquire global TV rights for the sport, which he sold in more than 100 countries.

By the early 1990s F1 was worth £2.5bn and Ecclestone was earning an estimated £1m a week. It was eventually sold to Liberty Media for £6.4 billion.

Bernie Ecclestone: The young motorcycle dealer who bought racing team ‘to go home’ and turned F1 into a multi-billion pound business taking the world by storm

Bernie Ecclestone qualifies for the 2016 British Grand Prix at Silverstone Circuit

Bernie Ecclestone was born into comparative poverty in East London on 28 October 1930, but became one of Britain’s richest businessmen by transforming Formula One from a sport for motoring enthusiasts into a global brand generating profits of more than £1 billion a year.

He left school at 15 to trade motorcycle parts while working for the Gas Board, honing his skills by negotiating the prices of used cars with criminals.

He amassed a portfolio of luxury items, including a large yacht, racehorses, magnificent homes in London and Switzerland, and a private jet.

Ecclestone is known to always pay in cash and is often seen pulling €500 notes out of a wad. In 2014 he was reportedly carrying $1 million (£600,000) in cash in a plastic bag and was later known to have accidentally left the bag in a room.

He was married three times, first to Ivy Bamford in 1952, then to Croatian model Slavica Radić in 1985, before divorcing in 2009, and finally to Brazilian Fabiana Flosi in 2012.

Bernie Ecclestone with his second wife Slavica at Meridien Beach Plaza in Monte Carlo, Monaco on May 23, 2008

British Formula One Boss Bernie Ecclestone with his then wife Slavica (left) and daughters Tamara and Petra (right) at the Italian Grand Prix at Monza in September 2005

He met Fabiana in 2009 while working at the World Motor Sport Council in Brazil marketing the Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos.

In April 2020, when Ecclestone was 89 years old, it was revealed that she was pregnant. The child was born in July 2002 and they named the baby Ace. His father said: ‘We have a son named Ace. I’m so proud.’

Fabiana added: ‘Everything was so easy. The birth ended after 25 minutes. ‘I thank God.’

Ecclestone’s second wife, Slavica, has four children, including daughters Tamara and Petra.

In 2014, it was reported that he was paying her £60 million a year as part of their divorce settlement.