The kidnapped mother-in-law of Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone has reportedly been freed in Brazil without any ransom paid.

Aparecida Schunck, who is the mother of Ecclestone's 38-year-old wife Fabiana Flosi, was snatched from her Sao Paulo home on Friday, July 22.

It was reported that the kidnappers demanded $36.5m (£28m), but Elisabete Sato of Sao Paulo police confirmed that no money was paid and instead a "major police operation" was carried out, according to BBC News.

The report adds that 67-year-old Schunck was unhurt when police rescued her from a farmhouse near the city.

It is believed that 85-year-old Ecclestone, who is worth an estimated £2.4 billion, wanted to travel to Brazil to help and offered to send over a private security company to assist in the rescue, but police advised him and his wife to remain in the UK.

The businessman married Flosi in 2012 after divorcing his wife of 25 years Slavic Radic.