His Red Bull Racing and AlphaTauri teams and the Red Bull Ring circuit in Austria are just the highest profile examples. However along the twin F1 teams Mateschitz made a huge contribution in many other forms of motor sport, from MotoGP to NASCAR. He gave a chance to dozens of young drivers, many of whom would not have progressed without Red Bull backing.
Mateschitz was born in Styria in May 1944 during World War 2, the son of two primary school teachers. After obtaining a marketing degree aged 28 in 1972 – he had somehow managed to stretch his stint as a Vienna University student to a decade – he joined Unilever, initially promoting detergents. He then moved to the Blendax cosmetics company, where his products included toothpaste.
