Austrian businessman Dietrich Mateschitz, the co-founder of Red Bull and a global business titan whose influence in the sports industry spanned from Formula 1 to soccer, died Saturday at the age of 78. Mateschitz's passing was announced by his Red Bull Racing team ahead of Sunday's United States Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.
Born in Styria in 1944, Mateschitz pursued marketing as a profession and was working for German cosmetics company Blendax when he discovered the drink Krating Daeng while traveling in Thailand. Mateschitz would go on to partner with the drink's founder, Chaleo Yoovidhya, to form Red Bull in 1984.
Red Bull would go on to become a world leader in the energy drink market, and the brand would also become heavily ingrained in sponsorship of extreme sports. But nowhere was Mateschitz's influence felt greater than in Formula 1. Red Bull entered F1 in the mid-1990s as the main sponsor and majority owner of Sauber, a partnership that would last until the end of the 2001 season when Sauber chose to hire driver Kimi Raikkonen instead of Red Bull product Enrique Bernoldi.
Red Bull would then go on to buy Jaguar Racing, which was re-christened as Red Bull Racing and proceeded to become one of the major power players in F1. Under Mateschitz's ownership, Red Bull would pick up 89 Grand Prix victories, 229 podiums and six world championships. The team would win four championships in a row from 2010 to 2013 with Sebastian Vettel, and it has won the last two championships with Max Verstappen.
Mateschitz would also purchase the Minardi F1 team in the mid-2000s to form Scuderia Toro Rosso (now AlphaTauri), which existed as a junior team to Red Bull before becoming an independent operation beginning in 2010. Toro Rosso has served as a development platform for Red Bull drivers, with the team's lone victory coming in the 2008 Italian Grand Prix with Vettel behind the wheel.
"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," read a statement by Stefano Domenicali, President and CEO of F1. "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.
"I will miss him greatly, as will the whole community in Formula 1, and our thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends, and the Red Bull and AlphaTauri teams at this very sad time."
In addition to Formula 1, Mateschitz also owned several international football clubs, including the New York Red Bulls in the United States, Red Bull Salzburg in Austria, and Red Bull Brasil. He also owned the German hockey club Red Bull Munchen and owned a NASCAR team from 2007 to 2011, which earned two Cup Series victories with drivers Brian Vickers and Kasey Kahne while also bringing a young AJ Allmendinger to NASCAR.
Mateschitz is survived by partner Marion Feichtner and son Mark Gerhardter.
