Dietrich Mateschitz

Let me ask you a question.

Why did Mateschitz create Toro Rosso when he did?

I have no idea.

Well, I can

Again, in his recent book that I have just finished, it was all about VCARB in this new era, about helping to build prove a better financial return for the entire group as in well it's already got a job in preparing drivers for the future it's got to be supporting its own weight and being cost effective and you know bringing in important sponsors you know the visa cash app deal and now that the team is worth around about 2.3 2.5 billion dollars That's quite the bind for this team, isn't it? Because it's now got two very important jobs for the Red Bull Group.

And as we have seen with the new management of Red Bull GmbH in Salzburg, they are far more corporate than, you know, the have-a-go hero that was Dietrich Mateschitz.

Because not only have they got to assess brand new young talent within the Red Bull junior team, they've now also got to answer their investors and shareholders and also really gun for constructors points and that extra $10 million between fifth place and sixth place and realizing a proper fervent dream that this entire organization has had with this operation.

And they're just about to do it.

Hard to imagine? Well, lucky for us, a certain Austrian entrepreneur has already done this.

If you're not aware of him, then let me introduce you to Dietrich Mateschitz, an Austrian entrepreneur who discovered Kratting Dang, a THAI energy tonic drink, on a business trip and then partnered with its creator, Chaleo Uvidia, and decided to carbonate the recipe and name it Red Bull, launching it as a modern energy drink in Austria on April 1, 1987.

The infamous, trash can myth.

Trash can myth? Sounds stupid, right? Like, hey you know what are you high on? No, I haven't lost my mind, yet winking face.

Guaranteeing an investment of $400 million over the next three racing seasons to keep the team running and protect staff jobs.

Everyone wondered.

Why the hell did an energy drink company buy an F1 team? Like, what is the logic? And why buy a team that was actively drowning, because they wanted to break the system? Red Bull invested hundreds of millions into the now-renamed Red Bull Racing, but when co-founder Dietrich Mateschitz took over, he intentionally structured it completely differently from traditional automotive manufacturers.

While parent company Red Bull GmbH provided a literal blank check for funding, Mateschitz delegated all actual racing decisions to the team's leadership.

I mean, if I tell you everything that went on, it was wild.

Did Dietrich Mateschitz want

you to stay?

Yes, he did.

Well, you know what? I think even bringing this up in the first place was not classy.

We already know Christian felt badly treated at the moment, and that his relationship with Helmut had collapsed, especially after the passing of Dietrich Mateschitz in 2022.

But bringing all of this into the conversation just exposes something intensely personal to another round of eyeballs piercing through it.

It's just not on.

And so, you know, things have been changing within the group.

I think you have to wind the clock back to when, you know, Dietrich Mateschitz died at the end of 2022, and Dietrich was such a formidable, leader and charismatic leader of Red Bull.

Inevitably, when you get a character like that, that sadly is no longer with you anymore, then it leaves a void and everything has to evolve.

Nothing is forever.

I don't think that that's so much the culture in F1.

And I think, you know, something that I found was a good indicator of how the ownership feel about football Laurent Mekis is the fact that it was Mark Mateschitz, Dietrich's son, who announced it at the factory.

And I think that that is a real signal of how they feel about him and what he's doing.

And, you know, yes, you can say, well, he's only had a year, a little over a year at the team.

I mean, it clearly is the change that they needed to have someone that's more adaptable, that, you know, is flexible, that isn't.

There's a middle ground, isn't there? Not just doing what other people are telling you and not being a puppet.

Also, Christian was in a very different scenario where he was given free reign by Dietrich Mateschitz to run the company and the team as he saw fit.

So he didn't really need to be a yes man.