The emotion was unmistakable in Max Verstappen’s face and voice as he paid tribute to Red Bull co-owner Dietrich Mateschitz after qualifying at the United States Grand Prix.
Mateschitz, who died earlier on Saturday at the age of 78, leaves a giant legacy in Formula 1 as well as in global business, as the man who effectively invented energy drinks and founded one of the most successful F1 teams of the modern era.
Red Bull had wanted to make Verstappen the youngest champion in F1 history when they brought him into the sport at the age of 17 back in 2015.
The dominant performance of Mercedes from 2014-2020 put paid to that ambition. But Mateschitz, who has been ill for some time, lived long enough to see Verstappen win not one but two world titles. And his team now embark on what their rivals fear could be a second dominant era in the sport, to follow that they enjoyed with Sebastian Vettel in the first four years of the 2010s.
The news of Mateschitz’s death broke less than an hour before qualifying in Austin, Texas, and the entire Red Bull team were called into their headquarters in the paddock to hear it.
After qualifying third fastest behind the two Ferrari drivers, Verstappen, his face dark and his voice breaking a little, said he owed his success to Mateschitz, and was determined to turn his second place on the grid at the Circuit of the Americas – he moves up a place because of a penalty for Charles Leclerc – into a win on Sunday.
“It was a tough entry to qualifying,” Verstappen said. “And then you don’t really care about the result as well. It doesn’t matter.
“It is more about what happened and what he has meant to everyone within the team, what he has built up in F1, the company itself. And personally to me, because without him I wouldn’t be sitting here today and I wouldn’t have had the success I’ve had. It’s incredibly tough for everyone in the team.
“Luckily I got to see him a couple of weeks back so we could spent a little bit of time together, but it is still a tough day.”
Mateschitz was a reclusive figure, famous for the achievements of his company and the teams he backed in several sports, but never one to seek the limelight. So little was known about him outside the small coterie of people who he allowed to get close.
“Dietrich was always super-kind and caring,” Verstappen said. “He didn’t like to be in the foreground. He was always there but he didn’t want to be in front of the cameras.
“When you got to know him more personally, he was super-nice. He was a big race fan. The commitment he has shown to F1, and have two race teams, is incredible and the amount of young talent he has supported through all these years.
“From my side, to believe in me from such a young age and see that relationship grow year after year was very special.
“I will forever remember the final visit I had with him, what we talked about and the time we spent during that day. At the time it was already very special and it is even more special now.”
Mateschitz will not only be missed inside Red Bull. Behind the scenes, he has been one of the most influential figures in the sport for over two decades, and those with whom he dealt also paid tribute to him on Saturday.
“The guy was just larger than life,” said Toto Wolff, a fellow Austrian, who has a home in Salzburg, the city closest to Mateschitz’s base.
“What he has done in Austria for football, ice hockey, Leipzig, the racing programme – probably the biggest contribution in F1 of any single individual.
“The man was super-reflective and what started as always a little bit Mercedes-Red Bull discussion [between us] then took hours and ended up in a very personal discussion around families and whatever and I enjoyed that.
“The biggest achievement for me is the brand. The 1990s it appeared, so we’re talking 32 years. And I don’t know how many billions of euros the company makes, but creating a new product that only existed in Thailand in a different packaging and making it a global player is putting everything in a shadow that is around sports.
“But in our microcosmos, I remember he once said to me: ‘I have no problem doing a sports project that loses money, as long as I enjoy doing it.’ There are not many entrepreneurs that said that, and he did it for the love of the sport.”
Sainz realistic about Sunday’s race
For Verstappen and Red Bull, a win on Sunday would be the perfect way to honour Mateschitz’s memory, and also put in the background for at least a few moments the politics and controversy that still surround the team following the announcement last week that they broke F1’s budget cap last year.
Given Verstappen’s record this year, he starts as strong favourite, even though he is behind Carlos Sainz on the grid, after the Ferrari driver finally took his first pole position in the dry after coming close in the past few races.
Sainz, another product of the Red Bull young driver programme, paid his own tribute to Mateschitz, and added that he was “realistic” about his prospects for the race.
“We are going to try everything we can to try and win the race but we know what Red Bull are capable of on Sundays,” Sainz said.
“They are favourites for tomorrow because they always manage to put very good Sundays together. It will be a big challenge, I would love to win, I will try to, but it is going to be very tough.”
Sainz – and perhaps even Verstappen – is likely to face a threat also from the Mercedes drivers, who start alongside each other on the second row, with Lewis Hamilton ahead of George Russell for the sixth race in a row, after an engine penalty for Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, who was fourth fastest.
Both Red Bulls were slower than Hamilton after the first runs in final qualifying and although the seven-time champion dropped back with a less-effective second lap, Mercedes have looked in decent shape this weekend after introducing a major aerodynamic upgrade to their floor.
“Austin didn’t look great on paper a few weeks ago,” Wolff said, “and we brought the upgrade and we are 0.6 seconds off and Lewis could probably have added 0.2secs, and 0.4secs off in Austin looks like a solid result considering the weaknesses of the chassis overall.
“Clearly the favourites are starting in front of us. It is a good indication for tomorrow. We have two cars, so strategy-wise maybe we have a few more options. And we need to have the mindset of ‘we will race for the victory’ even though if I was a bookie Verstappen and Sainz have better odds.”
A win for Verstappen would bring him level with Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel on the all-time record of 13 wins in a season, with three races still to go to break it. But he said he was not thinking about that.
“I know the opportunity is there and we have a quick car,” he said. “I am not really busy with stats because you can’t compare anyway because we are doing more races so if you have a competitive car there is a bigger opportunity to reach it.”
Verstappen doesn’t need an extra incentive to go for the win, but the loss of Mateschitz certainly provides one.
“We’re going to try to make him proud,” he said.
