F1 team: Red Bull co-founder Dietrich Mateschitz dies at 78

Austrian billionaire Dietrich Mateschitz, the co-founder of energy drink company Red Bull and founder and owner of the Red Bull Formula One racing team, has died. He was 78.

Officials with the Red Bull racing team at the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, said Saturday that Mateschitz had died.

There was no immediate word where he died, or a cause of death.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner paid tribute to Mateschitz shortly before its drivers Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez got in their cars for qualifying at the U.S. race.

“He is the reason that we are here. It was his passion for Formula One and his vision. He was always enthusiastic, encouraging and supportive on the good days and the bad days,” Horner said. “I feel privileged to have known him. For the whole team now, despite the shock, we’re going to do exactly what he would have wanted, which is to go there with his cars and do the very best that we can, and try to close this constructor’s championship (title) down.”

Red Bull driver Verstappen has already secured the drivers’ title for a second straight season.

Mohammed Ben Sulayem, president of motor sports governing body FIA, said Mateschitz was “a towering figure in motor sport.”

“The thoughts of all the FIA family are with his loved ones at this time and he will be greatly missed.”

Mateschitz gained fame as the public face of Red Bull, an Austrian-Thai conglomerate that says it sold nearly 10 billion cans of its caffeine and taurine-based drink in 172 countries worldwide last year.

Mateschitz not only helped the energy drink become popular around the world, but also built up a sports, media, real estate and gastronomy empire around the brand.

With the growing success of Red Bull, he significantly expanded his investments in sports. Red Bull now operates football clubs, ice hockey teams and F1 racing teams, and has contracts with hundreds of athletes in various sports.

Mateschitz and Thai investor Chaleo Yoovidhya founded the company in 1984 after Mateschitz recognized the potential in marketing Krating Daeng – another energy drink created by Chaleo – for a western audience. Red Bull says Mateschitz worked on the formula for three years before the modified drink was launched under its new name in his native Austria in 1987.