PICTURES
All dynasties fall. And when they do chaos and, historically, even bloodshed follows.
Right now in Formula 1, a potential political thriller is in the offing, surrounding the succession plan of the company which owns one of the super-teams: Red Bull. But while any Game of Thrones-style bloodletting would be metaphorical only, even in the ‘Piranha Club’, some very famous motorsport names could already be facing the consequences of regime change.
As with many past examples of great houses falling, this all started with a patriarch’s demise. Red Bull magnate Dietrich Mateschitz’s health had been declining for months before his death in October 2022; that sad development finally came on the Saturday of the US Grand Prix and yet visibly shocked even the infamously undemonstrative Max Verstappen.
The next month, Mateschitz’s son Mark – now a billionaire at 30 – revealed the future of the gigantic Red Bull GmbH. He resigned his position as head of Red Bull Organics (its non-caffeinated drinks line) and took up ownership of Red Bull Distribution & Marketing GmbH, which owns 49% of Red Bull overall – the rest controlled by the Yoovidhya family of the drink’s original Thai creator Chaleo. Control of the business in
