Inextricably intertwined with Red Bull, the energy drink and the Formula One race team, Dietrich Mateschitz made his mark in a variety of motor sports. The Austrian, 78, passed away on October 22. No cause of death was given for the exceptionally private Mateschitz, but he had been in failing health.
Mateschitz, who obtained a degree in marketing, co-founded the Red Bull empire while working in the household cleansing products universe. HIs travels to Asia introduced him to the tonic that became Red Bull.
From the start, he used motor sport to market the energy drink, realizing the promotional tool it represented. His introduction to Formula 1 was through a personal contract with the driver Gerhard Berger in 1994. A year later he began an extended association with the Sauber team, eventually taking an active financial role with that squad.
While renown for his affiliation with F1 teams, Mateschitz also spread his wings (pun intended) to other forms of motor sport, including the Indy Racing League, NASCAR, Red Bull Air Races, as well as with such European formulae as F3000/F3. It was in the latter category that Mateschitz met Helmut Marko, who eventually became his primary racing advisor.
Peter Sauber and Mateschitz went their separate ways after the team owner chose Kimi Raikkonen to drive in 2001, rather than the sponsor’s choice, Enrique Bertoldi, who later found a home with Arrows. Continuing to support his favored drivers in F1, Mateschitz elected to buy the Jaguar team when Ford decided to unload it at the close of the 2004 season. After renaming the team after his energy drink, Mateschitz hired Christian Horner, who continues to run Red Bull to this day. The following year he acquired Minardi, renaming it Scuderia Toro Rosso; the second team was intended to develop young drivers.
One of Horner’s most inspired decisions for the Red Bull Racing team, which iInitially retained much of its Jaguar identity including Cosworth engines, was the hiring of Adrian Newey in 2005 as technical director. The Cosworth engines eventually were replaced by Ferrari engines and finally by Renault in 2007, the same time Sebastian Vettel came to the Red Bull team.
By 2010, Red Bull Racing was a bulwark of F1 and Vettel took the team to four consecutive championships with Renault power, 2010 through 2013. As the hybrid era began in 2014, Renault’s engines weren’t the right choice – and proper choices in engines, now called power units, is essential in F1 – directed a frustrated Vettel to Ferrari.
Mateschitz then replaced the German with 17-year-old Dutch racer Max Verstappen, who initially drove for Toro Rosso (now known as Alpha Tauri but still essentially the development team for Red Bull). The relationship between both of Mateschitz’s F1 teams and Renault continued to decline and, by inserting Honda engines first at Toro Rosso, Red Bull realized they’d secured a better partner and switched both teams to Honda by 2019.
With Verstappen giving Honda its first hybrid era victory at Austria, the former A1 Ring track that Mateschitz owned, Honda was on the upswing, and continued to support both Red Bull teams. Their reward was Verstappen’s first championship in 2021 and his second, achieved even before the tour alighted in Austin, Texas this past weekend.
Learning of his longtime mentor’s death Verstappen noted, after earning P3 on the 20-car grid for the U.S. Grand Prix and later taking the win, “It was tough to hear the news ahead of qualifying,” he said. “The result today doesn’t really matter. What does matter is reflecting on Dietrich and what he did for us as a Team, the whole of Formula One and the wider Red Bull family,” Verstappen said.
“Dietrich was always super kind and caring to me. I will forever remember the last visit I had with him a month ago or so. At the time it was very special but it’s definitely more special now. He believed in me from such a young age and many other younger drivers, and gave incredible opportunities to so many people. Without him, I would not be here today, so it’s an incredibly tough day,” the two-time F1 champ stated.
One of Mateschitz’s more visible programs was the Red Bull Driver Search as F1 attempted to attract American drivers. Scott Speed was the driver chosen to drive for Red Bull in 2005, the first U.S.-born racer to achieve F1 status since Michael Andretti’s protracted 1993 stint with McLaren. Speed was test driver in 2005 and, in 2006 and 2007 was one of two racers on the Toro Rosso squad, together with Vitantonio Liuzzi. “This man gave me such an incredible opportunity and was a great inspiration,” Speed said of Mateschitz upon learning of his death. “RIP Didi u will be greatly missed.”
By Anne Proffit
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