John N
Following the death of founder Dietrich Mateschitz, Red Bull’s future is uncertain. However, Dr. Helmut Marko has denied reports that one of the first moves by new CEO Oliver Mintzlaff will be to sell Alpha Tauri.
“The group is doing well,” Marko told Auto Motor und Sport. “There is no financial need to sell the team. There is more of a need to bring them back to a higher level in terms of sport.” As for Red Bull’s F1 operations overall, however, Marko admits that things will “certainly change.” “It was a de facto autocracy,” he said.
“But Red Bull Racing is the group’s strongest and most efficient marketing tool. We worked very independently in the past—we were the only ones who didn’t have to follow certain company rules. That autonomy existed with Mateschitz’s consent.”
The Mateschitz Foundation owns the Austrian Grand Prix. It’s separate from the group. There’s a sponsorship deal between Red Bull and Projekt Spielberg. We’ll see how things go with the private foundation.
“As for his role at the top of Red Bull’s F1 management team, Marko answered: “There will soon be business negotiations in Thailand. I’m independent. It depends on the overall structure. But we still have a lot to do, and it’s going well.”
“The problem with our wind tunnel is that it is a post-war product,” he said. “It was set up by the English ministry of defense and is under monument protection.
“It is insanely long and not isolated, so it takes a while to heat up, especially when it’s cold outside. Adrian Newey has complained for a long time, which is why we’re building a new one.
“That’s actually idiotic because the whole development is going towards CFD simulations. So it’s another 50 million because we (the F1 teams) couldn’t agree again.”
