Late Red Bull chief’s son acquires Bernie Ecclestone’s £500,000,000 classic car collection

Red Bull co-founder Dietrich Mateschitz's son Mark Mateschitz got his hands on the classic car collection owned by former F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone. The Austrian billionaire took over the reins of the energy drink brand after his father's death in late 2022.

Mateschitz made his foray into F1 in the 1990s when he sponsored former McLaren and Ferrari driver Gerhard Berger. In the early 2000s, he started sponsoring the Sauber F1 team. He then purchased the struggling Jaguar and converted it into Red Bull in 2005.

The billionaire was instrumental in the Austrian team's success in the sport and paved the way for many drivers, including Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo, Max Verstappen, and many others in F1.

F1 insider Vincenzo Landino recently stated that former F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone's collection, which includes iconic cars like Michael Schumacher's title-winning Ferrari, was on sale. He later revealed that the new owner of the collection, worth £500m, would be Mark Mateschitz.

Former F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone comments on Red Bull owner buying his car collection

Former F1 owner Bernie Ecclestone stated that Red Bull heir Mark Matescgitz was the most "worthy" owner for his car collection which is worth around £500m.

Speaking to Daily Mail about the sale, the 94-year-old believed that he should have sold his cars long back, saying, as quoted by BBC:

"I love all my cars, but maybe I should have done this five years ago but I never got around to it until now. These are unique vehicles. They have written sports history and marked technical milestones. They embody 70 years of F1 history. It means a great deal to me to know that this collection is now in the very best of hands.

"Mark is the best and most worthy owner we could ever imagine. I'm more than happy that's where they've gone. I wouldn't have sold them to [just] anyone unless I knew where they were going to finish up. They're going to build something like a museum and that's where they'll be," the 94-year-old added.

Mark Mateschitz was also very pleased by the purchase and extended his gratitude to Ecclestone, stating that the collection would be preserved while also being accessible to the public in the near future:

"I am very pleased that Bernie has placed his trust in me to take care of this historically significant collection. It will be carefully preserved, and expanded over the years, and in the near future it will be made accessible to the public at an appropriate location."

Bernie Ecclestone had previously spoken about his concerns regarding offloading his collection to someone who would not take care of the history associated with them.