Toto Wolff said he "proudly" wore Red Bull colours during his own racing career as he paid tribute to Dietrich Mateschitz.
The founder and owner of the Red Bull brand died on the eve of the United States Grand Prix. He was 78 years old, and had been battling with a long illness but lived long enough to see Max Verstappen secure back-to-back drivers' titles at Suzuka two weeks ago.
Having been involved in F1 and other series for decades, Mateschitz was a popular and well-respected figure across the motorsport world. Naturally, news of his death triggered an outpouring of emotion as well as plenty of heartfelt tributes.
Wolff was one of those to share his grief, and recalled a time when he once bore the logo of the company founded by his fellow Austrian. "It was on a car that was sponsored by Red Bull but I was proud to wear those colours as a junior driver, GT driver back in the day, and being a Red Bull driver was something prestigious and I was proud to wear the overalls and the team kit," he said.
He was referring to his days as a GT racer. He won the 2006 Dubai 24 Hour race wearing Red Bull overalls, as part of a team including Dieter Quester, Philipp Peter and German former F1 driver Hans Joachim Stuck.
Wolff continued his tribute: "As an Austrian you pretty much know the history of Red Bull and him and his troupe. When they started selling the drink, some of the clubs just turned them down and they asked 'what are you selling us, an energy drink what is that?'
"Then he was told you mix it with Vodka and it was suddenly a hit, like a drug, and it was sold under the table. Then it got into the good clubs in Munich and the same thing, vodka Red Bull was almost like taking drugs. That created such a myth around Red Bull and whoever thought that this can create a market that didn't exist.
"Energy drinks didn't exist and from then on it got stronger and stronger, and I also remember the price policy. He would never budge when the big supermarket chains would say we can make it cheaper and they would delist him, and he said delist him and then they took him back.
"Then always the large chunks of profits from that was invested in sport, the guy was just bigger than life. What he has done in Austria for football, for ice hockey, for Leipzig, the racing programme, it is incredible. Probably the biggest contribution in Formula 1 of any single individual. I was lucky enough, I was invited sometimes into the famous Hangar 7 and it was quite impressive.
"The man was super reflective and what started like a Mercedes-Red Bull discussion, it was always the two of us, and it took hours and then it ended up in a very personal discussion around families and everything and I enjoyed that. I think the biggest achievement is the brand. 1990s it appeared so we are talking 32 years and I don't know how many billions of euros the company makes.
"Creating a new market, inventing a product that only existed in Thailand in a different packaging and making it a global player is far superior and overshadowing everything that is around sports. But in our microcosm, I remember he once said to me he’d rather do a sports project that loses money as long as he enjoys doing it. There are not many entrepreneurs that say that, for the love of the sport."
