"It's getting more difficult" - Emotional Helmut Marko admits missing 'optimistic' Red Bull co-founder

Red Bull chief advisor Helmut Marko recently shared his feelings of "heavy loss" following the death of the company's co-founder Dietrich Mateschitz. The Austrian businessman, who died aged 78 in October 2022, was a close friend of his compatriot Marko, and counted the team’s chief advisor as among his most trusted people in the paddock..

Remembering him in an interview with RTL, a visibly emotional Marko admitted that things have not been easy to manage with Mateschitz not around anymore.

“I’m missing him [Mateschitz] a lot," Marko said. "This is the second heavy loss. The first was Niki Lauda, with whom I [was] friends and worked with for decades. It’s getting more difficult. You have to make the decisions alone, you no longer have the opportunity to exchange ideas at the same level. Whenever there were problems, he saw a solution."

He added:

“He was never destructive, he was always forward-thinking, optimistic, and he gave all the people opportunities – not just here at Red Bull – and believed in projects and encouraged, radiated confidence – even at [our] last meeting.”

Oliver Mintzlaff, who previously served as the chief executive of Bundesliga club RB Leipzig, has taken over as one of three new CEOs of Red Bull since Mateschitz's death. Marko revealed that he had a productive discussion with Mintzlaff over the winter. He said:

“[In the winter] I had a long conversation with Oliver Mintzlaff, the new person responsible for our Formula 1 project. It was a very constructive conversation. The next one will follow soon,”

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The last meet with the Red Bull founder was at Lake Wolfgang

Helmut Marko revealed that the last time he met Dietrich Mateschitz was at Lake Wolfgang in Austria and that current Red Bull driver Max Verstappen was also present at the meeting. Marko revealed that he would call Dietrich after every F1 race to talk about how Red Bull did, and with him gone, there is a certain emptiness after the races. Marko said:

“That was at Lake Wolfgang in September together with Max Verstappen. It was a very long meeting. There is a certain emptiness, and initially these five minutes and this summary were missing immediately after a race. You have to see how you can overcome it or how you can cope with this situation.”

The team will be hoping to win another title this season to honor Mateschitz, the man who was responsible for the careers of some great drivers like Verstappen, Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo, Carlos Sainz, Jean-Eric Vergne, Pierre Gasly and others.