Red Bull co-owner Dietrich Mateschitz changed the way Formula 1® teams go about their business while leaving an almost unprecedented legacy in the sport he loved; that's the view of esteemed F1® author and journalist Mark Hughes, the latest guest on the Australian Grand Prix Corporation's In the Fast Lane podcast.
Austrian businessman Mateschitz, 78, passed away last weekend while F1® raced at the United States Grand Prix in Austin, where Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen won for a record-equalling 13th time this season to secure the team's first constructors' title in nine years.
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Mateschitz first became involved in F1® as a sponsor of Swiss team Sauber in the 1990s and purchased the Jaguar team from Ford to bring Red Bull Racing to the grid in 2005. He later purchased Minardi from Australian aviation businessman Paul Stoddart and renamed it Scuderia Toro Rosso, now Scuderia AlphaTauri, as a second team for Red Bull-backed young drivers.
Eight of the 20 drivers on this year's grid, including world champions Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel, and race-winners like Daniel Ricciardo and Carlos Sainz, came through Red Bull's junior programs, and Hughes said Mateschitz's behind-the-scenes passion for motorsport was at direct odds to his public persona.
"He was a foot on the gas kind of guy, but you wouldn't know that from observing him," Hughes told the Australian Grand Prix Corporation's official podcast.
"It was like a breath of fresh air (in 2005) because Formula One was a bit too buttoned-down and corporate in that time. As the money had come in, that was how Formula One felt it should be presenting itself. It wasn't necessarily a very appealing aesthetic for the fans, and Red Bull moved that on a little bit.
"He was someone who had enormous influence in Formula One (but) he absolutely would not do interviews, he was very low-profile. It couldn't contrast more than with the very brash, aggressive marketing of Red Bull as a whole, and of the team in particular. That was all his vision, but it contrasted as to how he was."
Verstappen's win in Texas last weekend saw the Dutchman equal Vettel (2013) and Michael Schumacher (2004) as the driver with the most victories in one season, a record he could break with races in Mexico, Brazil and Abu Dhabi remaining in 2022.
Hughes, who has reported on the sport for close to three decades and seen all of the modern-day greats in the fledgling days of their careers, said the 25-year-old finally has a car and team commensurate with his talent and that he could have already won more than two titles in the right machinery.
"He's been an extraordinary peak levels ever since he sat in an F1 car, and had he come in like Lewis (Hamilton) did with a top team (McLaren in 2007), he would have been fighting for wins immediately," he said.
"All Max has done over those years is just learn a few lessons and deepen his experience, but he hasn't got any quicker because he was incredibly quick immediately. This year he's had probably the best car … he was at a level where he could have won titles for many years, but without the car to do it."
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