F1 boss marries Brazilian beauty

Formula One tycoon Bernie Ecclestone has secretly married for a third time in a ceremony at his ski chalet in Switzerland.

In a service his own daughters failed to attend, the 81-year-old billionaire married Brazilian marketing director Fabiana Flosi, 35, at Le Lion, his £23 (R300-million) chalet in the exclusive resort of Gstaad.

The couple, who announced their engagement in April with Miss Flosi sporting a £100 000 (R1.3 million) ring, exchanged vows two weeks ago - while Ecclestone’s two daughters remained 10 000km away in Los Angeles.

Despite a 46-year age gap, Mr Ecclestone and Miss Flosi began dating in 2009 following the end of his 23-year marriage to Slavica.They met through their work on the Brazilian Grand Prix where Miss Flosi is F1’s vice-president of marketing.

But it seems the nuptials haven’t exactly been met with enthusiasm by the tycoon’s two daughters, model Tamara, 28, and fashion designer Petra, 24, who were both conspicuous by their absence.

STRAINED RELATIONS

Pointedly, Tamara - who has been staying with Petra at her £52 million (R670 million) mansion in Los Angeles since splitting from boyfriend Omar Khyami a month ago - made no reference to her father’s wedding to her 86 147 followers on Twitter.

In a message posted days after the wedding took place, Tamara wrote: “Sorry I’ve been quiet recently, how are you all?”

In May, Tamara said she had no plans to attend her father’s wedding out of loyalty to her mother, former Armani model Slavica.

But family sources said relations between Mr Ecclestone - the self-made son of a Suffolk trawlerman - and his daughters had been further strained by his decision to marry at Le Lion, the chalet where the Ecclestone family spend Christmas and where Tamara had previously hoped to marry.

In an interview before splitting from her businessman boyfriend in July, Tamara said: “I’m thinking of getting married in Gstaad, where we spend every Christmas.”

PRESTIGIOUS PROPERTY

Set in manicured grounds, the traditional four-storey chalet has been owned by the Ecclestones for more than 15 years and is one of the most prestigious properties in the area, boasting uninterrupted views over the Bernese Oberland.

Earlier this week, neighbours at the property, who include Italian fashion designer Valentino and film director Roman Polanski, said they knew nothing of the wedding at the chalet, which also boasts an indoor swimming pool and vast entertaining salon.

“The Ecclestone family has been coming up here for years,” said one. “Slavica absolutely loved the place, as do the girls.

“They mainly came for skiing holidays, but also just to relax up in the mountains. People are used to seeing celebrities up here - everybody from Roger Moore to Tina Turner - and the Ecclestones just go about their business like everybody else.”

THIRD TIME LUCKY?

The wedding is the third trip down the aisle for the octogenarian, who vowed to “remain single for the rest of his life” after being forced to hand over an estimated £1 billion (R13.2 billion) of his £2.4 billion (R32 billion) fortune to Slavica following their acrimonious divorce.

At the time Ecclestone met Flosi, she was living in Sao Paolo, Brazil, with paediatric doctor Fernando Nascimento, who said his girlfriend left him for the 1.6-metre billionaire after telling him she had taken a new job in London.

The couple’s low-key wedding comes a year after the previous Ecclestone nuptials, which took place in Rome last August, when Petra married in a £12 million (R160 million) three-day ceremony that included live performances from the Black Eyed Peas and Eric Clapton.

Afterwards Ecclestone branded the celebrations “absurd”, adding: “My younger daughter got married and I thought, as the father of the bride, I should pay for the wedding.

“But when it was suggested how much they would be spending on drinks, I thought it was absurd.” - Daily Mail