OCTOBER 7, 2001

Red Bull boss to take over Arrows

Dietrich Mateschitz, the boss of Red Bull, has told an Austrian business magazine Format that he is taking over the Arrows Formula 1 team.

DIETRICH MATESCHITZ, the boss of Red Bull, has told an Austrian business magazine Format that he is taking over the Arrows Formula 1 team. Mateschitz told the magazine that he has an option to buy the majority of the team and will reorganize it as Red Bull All America Team. This, he says, will be supplied with engines from either General Motors or Ford and will have sponsorship from the United States. Arrows currently has a two year deal to use Cosworth V10 engines. Mateschitz also said that the drivers will be American and that the team is planning to launch a competition for American drivers in the months ahead.

The interesting thing in all this will be whether or not Tom Walkinshaw remains with the team, which he took over in the course of 1996. Mateschitz is close to a number of other F1 people, notably Gerhard Berger and former Sauber commercial man Fritz Kaiser.

Mateschitz is selling his shareholding in Sauber, which he hopes will raise $33m.

The attack by Red Bull on the US market is not a surprise and we would expect to see a reaction from rival drinks company Coca-Cola which has ideas of an involvement in F1 to attack Red Bull where it is at its strongest in marketing terms.