His Red Bull Racing and AlphaTauri teams and the Red Bull Ring circuit in Austria are just the highest profile examples. However along the twin F1 teams Mateschitz made a huge contribution in many other forms of motor sport, from MotoGP to NASCAR. He gave a chance to dozens of young drivers, many of whom would not have progressed without Red Bull backing.
Mateschitz was born in Styria in May 1944 during World War 2, the son of two primary school teachers. After obtaining a marketing degree aged 28 in 1972 – he had somehow managed to stretch his stint as a Vienna University student to a decade – he joined Unilever, initially promoting detergents. He then moved to the Blendax cosmetics company, where his products included toothpaste.
It was while travelling on business in Asia that he by chance discovered the tonic drink that he would eventually launch in Europe as Red Bull, having founded the company with that name in 1984 in partnership with Thai businessman and Blendax associate Chaleo Yoovidhya. His initial investment was $500,000.
From the very early days Mateschitz believed in using motor racing and extreme sports as promotional tools. His first link with F1 came via a personal deal with Gerhard Berger, and then in 1995 he began an association with the Sauber team, eventually acquiring 60% of the Swiss organisation. In the first year Heinz-Harald Frentzen earned the team’s maiden podium with third place at Monza.
Drivers who passed through Sauber during the Red Bull era included Johnny Herbert, Jean Alesi, Mika Salo, Nick Heidfeld, Giancarlo Fisichella and Felipe Massa.
In parallel with Sauber Mateschitz also backed drivers in junior categories, initially through a relationship with F3000/F3 team owner Helmut Marko, who would later become his main motor sporting advisor and guru.
Team boss Peter Sauber had a falling out with Mateschitz after hiring Formula Renault driver Kimi Raikkonen for 2001, ignoring the sponsor’s preferred choice of his protégé, Enrique Bernoldi. Red Bull duly helped the Brazilian to get a seat with Arrows.
Mateschitz’s Red Bull was a key backer of Sauber in the late 90s and early 2000s
Photo by: Sutton Images
Mateschitz also backed Christian Klien, another of his proteges, at Jaguar in 2004. The relationship developed in an unexpected direction when at the end of the year the Ford Motor Company wanted to offload the Milton Keynes team and pull out of the sport – and Mateschitz was only…
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