Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz dies aged 78

Red Bull Racing's Helmut Marko told reporters at the US Grand Prix in Austin late on Saturday that the co-founder of the energy drink company had died at the age of 78.

The company said in a statement that he had died on Saturday, expressing both its "sadness" and its "gratitude for what he accomplished."

Who was Dietrich Mateschitz?

The Austrian from Styria co-founded the energy drink company Red Bull in 1987 and helped it grow into a world market leader. As of October last year, his net worth was estimated at just over €25 billion.

The Austrian-Thai conglomerate says it employs more than 13,000 people in 172 countries and sold nearly 10 billion cans of its caffeine and taurine-based last year.

As the company grew, Mateschitz's marketing strategy switched. The heavy television and media marketing campaigns began to subside. Instead, Red Bull began investing heavily in sporting events, especially events that kept with the high-octane style that might fit an energy drink.

Probably his most famous single investment was the purchase in 2004 of the then-Jaguar Formula 1 team.

By 2010, Mateschitz had transformed Red Bull Racing from a midfield contender to a championship-winning team, with the young German charger Sebastian Vettel at the wheel.

For a little over a decade Red Bull even owned and funded two F1 teams, with their junior team based in Italy badged Toro Rosso.

Red Bull also invested heavily in other more extreme sports, many of them with a racing bent, involving everything from stunt planes to motorcycles and bicycles and more.

Later, the company famously started branching out into the acquisition of top-flight football clubs such as Red Bull Salzburg, RB Leipzig, the New York Red Bulls, and others.

Condolences pour in

Tributes poured in at the race track in Texas following qualifying.

"We are saddened to hear of the death of Dietrich Mateschitz The co-founder of Red Bull made an unforgettable contribution to F1, and leaves a lasting legacy," the official Formula 1 Twitter account wrote.

Red Bull driver Sergio Perez called it a "sad day to all the Red Bull Family."

A sad day to all the Red Bull Family.
Tomorrow we will do our best for Dietrich and all the Mateschitz familly