Mar.10 (GMM) Red Bull founder Dietrich Mateschitz’s son has snapped up the unparalleled collection of Formula 1 cars recently offered for sale by Bernie Ecclestone.

Ecclestone, the 94-year-old former F1 CEO, told the Telegraph newspaper why he put the 69 cars – valued at hundreds of millions of dollars – up for sale.

“With a bit of luck I might get two or three more years and I don’t want to leave all this for Fabiana to sort,” he said.

“I’m still more or less in control, so I can do what I like. Maybe in another year I won’t be able to.”

It was not disclosed how much Mark Mateschitz – the heir to his father’s energy drink empire – paid for the collection.

But Tom Hartley Jr, the car dealer entrusted with selling the collection, boasted: “By several multiples it is the biggest sale price ever achieved.

“We received offers from all over the world, including from two separate sovereign wealth funds. But I do feel the collection has gone to the best home, and to the buyer which Bernie most favoured.”