F1: Is The Red Bull Owner Dieter Mateschitz Seriously Ill?

While Red Bull has gone on and won year another race this season with Sergio Perez capping his 2nd win of the season, behind the scenes there could be some bad news in store for the Austrian operation. The chief backer of the team, the founder and owner of Red Bull Dieter Mateschitz is said to be gravely ill.

Mateschitz was said to be the man behind the said Red Bull and Porsche deal which blew up in smoke. Porsche was supposedly going to acquire a 50 per cent stake in not just Red Bull Technologies but its newly formed Red Bull Powertrains division, but the negotiations fell apart.

Mateschitz had been instrumental in attracting Porsche but it seems like his failing health has resulted in the negotiations being handed over to Red Bull F1 team boss Christian Horner who from the get-go was worried about the independence of the team.

If Porsche acquired a majority stake in the Red Bull F1 team then many matters would be at the mercy of the Volkswagen group board which now soon will have another entry with Audi. Audi is expected to acquire a majority stake in the Sauber team which is currently sponsored by Alfa Romeo.

Mateschitz has been so unwell that he has not been available to his team and has not attended any meetings for weeks, reports out of Germany claim. In fact, when Red Bull racing consultant Helmut Marko was asked on the Singapore GP weekend about the health of Mateschitz, he said it was a private matter.

Marko is a close confidant of Mateschitz and was brought on board when he acquired the Jaguar F1 team from Ford to convert it into the 2nd most successful F1 team of the last decade. Marko was also instrumental in signing drivers like Max Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel.