Dietrich Mateschitz

Team principal Christian Horner has hailed the founder of the energy drinks company as 'an incredible man who loved Formula One'

“It is with great sadness that we learned of Dietrich’s death,” said Red Bull team principal Christian Horner. Red Bull driver The Austrian billionaire, integral in Red Bull’s involvement in Formula One, had been battling a long-term illness.

Dietrich Mateschitz, co-founder and owner of the Red Bull brand, has died at the age of 78.

Asked what Verstappen’s recent title win would have meant to Mateschitz, Horner added: “Well, thankfully he got to see that. That’s what he did here in F1, proving that you can make a difference. What a great man – he’s few of a kind.

Dietrich Mateschitz, the billionaire whose Red Bull energy drinks firm grew into one of the biggest sponsors in motorsport, has died aged 78.

[Red Bull Ring](/f1-information/going-to-a-race/red-bull-ring-circuit-information/), while its Servus TV channel has the rights to broadcast the sport in Austria. Mateschitz has only occasionally appeared in person to witness his team’s success, and had not been seen in an F1 paddock for several years. Red Bull increased its presence in F1 when it took over as the title sponsor of the Sauber Formula 1 team in 1995. While Horner built Red Bull Racing into a championship-winning force, Mateschitz pounced on the opportunity to buy another F1 team the following year. He transformed Minardi into Toro Rosso – Italian for ‘Red Bull’ – to serve as a finishing school for its future champions. Red Bull finally ended their uninterrupted title run last year when

Dietrich Mateschitz, 78, lost his fight against a long and serious illness on Saturday, and his death was confirmed by Red Bull.

"It is with great sadness that we have learned of the passing of one of the greatest and most visionary entrepreneurs in the world. he never wanted to be in the spotlight at all, but wow did he achieve a lot in his life." He's just grown it into the Red Bull Racing Team, AlphaTauri, the race track in Austria and so much more. F1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali said: "I am deeply saddened by the news that Dietrich Mateschitz, a hugely respected and much-loved member of the Formula 1 family has passed away. The team, founded in 2009, took over the licence of a fifth-tier German club and had made it to the Bundesliga by 2016. Red Bull team principal Christian Horner was very emotional as he paid tribute to Mateschitz in an interview with Sky Sports. It was in April 2005 that he took his first steps into the world of football club ownership. But just three years later they were back, with the team that has gone on to become one of the strongest in the sport – currently dominating the 2022 championship with Max Verstappen as their star driver. Red Bull Brasil followed two years later, before his first investment in African football with Red Bull Ghana. But he did not stop there, working to make the name become synonymous with the world of extreme sports. Both in Styria, now in Austria but at the time part of Nazi Germany in 1944, Mateschitz grew up to graduate with a marketing degree from Vienna University in 1972. Red Bull also owned the Toro Rosso team which was rebranded in recent teams as AlphaTauri.

Red Bull co-founder Dietrich Mateschitz, the man responsible for a game-changing Formula 1 operation, has died aged 78.

“He was always enthusiastic, encouraging, supportive, on the good days and the bad days. “He is the reason that we are here. It was in this era that his investment revived the Austrian Grand Prix, at the rebranded Red Bull Ring that he had purchased a decade earlier. Initially a sponsor and majority-owner of Sauber, Red Bull split with the Swiss team when it refused to run Enrique Bernoldi, one of the young drivers that Red Bull supported at the time. Red Bull went on to buy the underperforming Jaguar team in 2004 and rebranded it as Red Bull Racing for the following season. “He’s a remarkable man, what he’s done for so many.

Mateschitz was an influential Austrian businessman who founded the energy drinks company and then brought it to Formula 1 with huge success, winning four ...

I think they will carry on and be able to maintain the level of success they've been at even now the owner has passed. "He's put the Red Bull racing team on a firm foundation. "There had been rumours about his ill health for several weeks now and it's sad to have it confirmed now that he has passed on. An amazing academy, he linked to local schools to make sure that everyone who came through there got a good education as well as an opportunity within sport as well. Red Bull went on to secure clean sweeps of the next three championships, and have remained one of F1's top teams since. He then bought Minardi a year later, who became a Red Bull junior team in Toro Rosso, and are now called AlphaTauri.

Mateschitz founded Red Bull in 1984 with the drink's founder, Thai Chaleo Yoovidhya, turning it into a drinks company and a leading brand in several sports ...

He’s few of a kind. United States Grand Prix “It’s very, very sad,” Horner told Sky Sports.

Dietrich Mateschitz, who has died at the age of 78, was deliberately a man of mystery.

He said, when KTM in 1989 was in bankruptcy, he was preparing himself to buy it. In the Covid pandemic, he funded the Austrian GP to help keep the sport he loved afloat. In 2004, he and Heinz Kinigadner formed a non-profit foundation called Wings for Life. He was also active with a young driver programme which embraced Formula 2 and 3, but also sponsored racers and teams in many other categories. "Money was never a driving force for me,” he once said in a rare interview. When Peter Sauber decided to sign Kimi Raikkonen for 2001 instead of Mateschitz’s preferred driver Enrique Bernoldi (as he was keen to penetrate the Brazilian market) their relationship faltered, and after considering Arrows, at the end of 2004 Mateschitz bought the Jaguar team from Ford and named it Red Bull. It also helped that Germany and France initially banned the drink, which served only to increase interest in it and, of course, demand for it. He agreed a partnership with Chaleo Yoovidhya, the son of a poor Chinese immigrant who had been born in Siam in 1932, to market the drink worldwide. When the plan failed to materialise for Mercedes to take over the Sauber-Mercedes team, for whom Wendlinger drove, it made sense for Mateschitz to step in to support Peter Sauber’s efforts. Red Bull soon became very popular in Austria when launched in 1987, but that was only the start. That was the perfect marketing vehicle, not just because its global reach facilitated ever more dramatic expansion of Red Bull’s market, but because it also suited the ‘edgy’ youthful image that was so carefully crafted through other involvements in what were regarded as ‘high-risk’ sports, such as other motorsport categories, motorcycle racing, motocross, powerboating, hang-gliding, air racing and skateboarding. That was when, in Hong Kong in 1982, he came across a drink that locals said gave them an energy boost when they were tired.

The Austrian billionaire, integral in Red Bull's involvement in Formula One, had been battling a long-term illness. His death was announced to Red Bull staff ...

“He was an incredible visionary entrepreneur and a man who helped to transform our sport and created the Red Bull brand that is known all around the world. Mateschitz founded the energy drinks company in 1984. My thoughts are with his family.”

Tributes have been arriving from across the grid as the passing of Red Bull Racing founder Dietrich Mateschitz was announced.

Aston Martin added: “Our condolences go out to the entire Red Bull family and, of course, the friends and family of Dietrich Mateschitz following the sad news of his passing today. Our condolences go out to the entire Red Bull family and, of course, the friends and family of Dietrich Mateschitz following the sad news of his passing today. A great man whose impact on our sport cannot be overstated. Our thoughts are with them all.” “I find it really incredible what he has done,” Verstappen told Sky Sports F1. “On behalf of everyone at Ferrari, we offer our condolences to his family and to our friends at Red Bull and AlphaTauri.

Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz paid a glowing tribute to Dietich Mateschitz following the Red Bull founder and owner's death, insisting they would never ...

it's probably the biggest contribution to Formula 1 from any single individual." "Very sad news and quite shocked to hear that today," he said. He has also had many other ventures, including in football, ice hockey and extreme sports. I cannot thank him enough for that and that's why it's a very difficult day for us." "It's a big loss for all of us. ; Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz pay tribute to Dietrich Mateschitz ahead of US Grand Prix, where they will share the front row from 8pm - live on Sky Sports F1

Austrian billionaire Mateschitz was co-founder of energy drink company Red Bull, which says it sold nearly 10 billion cans of its caffeine and taurine-based ...

German league regulations prevented the company from naming the team Red Bull Leipzig – its name in German, RasenBallsport, means "grass ball sport Leipzig" but the club just refers to itself as RB Leipzig. He was incredibly proud of the team, incredibly proud of everything we've done and have been achieving, and he's been a passionate supporter and the backbone of everything that we do." Verstappen started in Red Bull's driver development program and became the youngest driver in F1 history to start a grand prix when he started with the junior Toro Rosso team at age 17 in 2015. Red Bull operates soccer teams in top divisions across Austria, Germany, Brazil and the United States. Red Bull also has contracts with hundreds of athletes in various sports and a deep driver development program to get racers to the top level. Red Bull says Mateschitz worked on the formula for three years before the modified drink was launched under its new name in his native Austria in 1987.