RED BULL CO-OWNER DIES

Dietrich Mateschiz has died at the age of 78.

The Red Bull co-owner made his fortune after he turned the world’s biggest energy drink into a $ 25 billion fortune.

In 1984 he was a salesman for Procter & Gamble when he discovered an energy drink in Thailand. The drink was called Krating Daeng back then.

Mateschiz met with the owner and eventually relaunched the energy drink in Austria and renamed it Red Bull.

The brand has since become synonymous with extreme sports like mountain biking and surfing. In 2001 Red Bull became involved with F1 and the brand grew from there.

Mateschiz, Christian Horner and Adrian Newey turned the failing Jaguar team into the fastest team in F1 only eight years later. They’ve since grown from strength since then.

The BBC reports that they set about running Red Bull into a leading force, became the fastest team in F1 by 2009, and won their first drivers’ and constructors’ titles with the German Sebastian Vettel in 2010, their first of our consecutive championship doubles for the team.

Commenting on his death, Red Bull’s team principal Christian Horner said “it’s very, very sad, what a great man.”

“What he achieved and what he has done for so many people, around the world in different sports, is second to none.”

Image credit: Sky News