Dietrich Mateschitz, who founded Red Bull and successfully pushed the energy drink company into the Formula One world, has died
AUSTIN, Texas — . He was 78 years old.
Mateschitz founded Red Bull in 1984 with Chaleo Yoovidhya and led the company into motorsports by the mid-1990s. Red Bull officially entered F1 in ’95 under a partnership with Sauber, a collaboration that ended in 2001. Three years later, Mateschitz bought the Jaguar Racing team, turning it into Red Bull Racing. But, he didn’t stop there. He also purchased the Minardi team, which would be called Scuderia Toro Rosso, in ’05. That team is now known as AlphaTauri.
Red Bull won its first Formula One championship in 2010, thanks to Sebastian Vettel, who went on to win the next three titles as well. The team also won the constructor title in all four seasons.