He couldn’t see it anymore. Dietrich Mateschitz died just as ‘his’ Red Bull was about to end the unique Mercedes series of eight constructors’ titles after eight years. There were many mysteries surrounding the founder of the energy drink brand, but one thing was clear: if he got involved, success followed.
The news of his death came on Saturday, more than an hour before qualifying for the American Grand Prix started in Austin. Until then, there were only rumors that the health condition of the 78-year-old Austrian had suddenly deteriorated after a long illness.
Max Verstappen looked visibly shaken in the interview immediately after qualifying. “It was tough, for everyone,” he said. “He has meant a lot to Red Bull, the sport and also to me.”
That the death of Mateschitz surprised just about the entire Formula 1, including his own team, says a lot about how the multi-billionaire led his life. He was averse to media attention and rarely appeared in public. He was only present at the annual Austrian Grand Prix on his own Red Bull Ring.
In a simple block blouse and jeans
He would land with his helicopter just a stone’s throw from the track and step onto the track with a wide smile, in a simple cube blouse and jeans. Then he dived into the team building, back into the background.
He oversaw everything, but despite the many hundreds of millions he invested, he left the running of his teams to others. Mateschitz only worked with people he trusted blindly. For example, in Formula 1, country, region and peer Helmut Marko was his adjutant. The two had been best friends for decades.
He only signed himself under major decisions, such as under Max Verstappen’s first F1 contract in 2014. He immediately got on well with Verstappen; the two found each other in their down-to-earth and authentic outlook on life. Failing to make Verstappen the youngest F1 champion ever was one of the few goals Mateschitz failed to achieve in his life.
Verstappen visited him a month ago. “That moment is now even more special,” said the two-time world champion on Saturday. “He believed in me when I was very young. Without him I wouldn’t be where I am now.’
Pushing success and boundaries
Mateschitz co-founded Red Bull with a Thai entrepreneur in the 1980s, after discovering the energy drink on a business trip in Thailand. To make his drink more popular, he focused on a story about success and pushing boundaries. It turned out to be perfectly applicable to sports.
He set up a huge marketing department and pumped many millions into sports and athletes so that special achievements would reflect on his red bull logo. He built a billion-dollar empire that way.
Mateschitz was known as a shrewd businessman, for whom no goal was too ambitious. He was never undisputed. First of all because of the product that he marketed. Doctors regularly express their concerns about the combination of sugar, caffeine and taurine in the drink and its health risks, especially for children.
Furthermore, the sometimes unorthodox ways in which his projects pursued success led to skewed faces. For example, a Red Bull training center near Salzburg made negative headlines in 2008 because it was run by a doctor convicted of his role in the GDR’s doping program.
Navigate along all kinds of rules
His purchase of football club RB Leipzig also encountered resistance in German football. He navigated through all kinds of rules that had to keep large companies and commerce out of German football. For example, he circumvented the ban on commercial expressions in the club name by not putting Red Bull in name, but Rasenball Sport. The abbreviation thus remained the same: RB.
Because Mateschitz himself rarely showed up, the skepticism surrounding his sports projects never completely disappeared. Of all those projects, Formula 1 was by far his most important and most expensive venture. As early as the 1990s, Mateschitz linked his company to the premier class, initially as a sponsor of teams and drivers.
In late 2004, he bought the team from Jaguar, renamed it Red Bull, creating a team that won world titles in less than a decade (first title in 2010). Rarely has a racing stable developed into a top team in such a short period of time. Red Bull has now become an indispensable part of the royal class.
He bought and renovated the circuit
Last year, Red Bull turned out to be the second most popular team after McLaren in the four-yearly Formula 1 fan survey. In addition to Red Bull, Mateschitz also owned the AlphaTauri team (former Toro Rosso) and bought and renovated the circuit in Austria that is now known as the Red Bull Ring.
He had such an enormous influence on Formula 1. This was also apparent from the reactions after his death. Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff called Mateschitz a visionary. Ferrari thanked him for his love of the sport and F1 boss Stefano Domenicali said Mateschitz has transformed the racing class.
Mateschitz passed away in a season that will go down in the books as one of the most special years of his stable. Red Bull already unofficially captured the constructors’ title after an eight-year Mercedes streak and rarely was a driver as sovereign as Max Verstappen. He can break the record for most wins in one season (thirteen) in the remaining three races. It would be the ultimate tribute to Mateschitz.