Niki Lauda
Formula One legend who fought back from horrific injuries to achieve new triumphs
Niki Lauda, racing driver and aviation entrepreneur. Born: 22 February 1949 in Vienna, Austria. Died: 20 May 2019 in Vienna, aged 70.
Formula One great Niki Laud a, who won two of his world titles after ah orr ific crash that left him with serious burns and went on to become a prominent figure in the aviation industry, has died. He was 70.
Lauda’s family issued a statement saying the three -time world champion “passed away peacefully” on Monday.
“His unique successes as a sportsman and entrepreneur are and remain unforgettable,” the family statement said. “His tireless drive, his straightforwardness and his courage remain an example and standard for us all. Away from the public gaze he was a loving and caring husband, father and grandfather. We will miss him very much.”
Lauda won the F1 drivers’ championship in 1975 and 1977 with Ferrari and again in 1984 with Mclaren.
In 1976, he was badly burned when he crashed during the German Grand Prix, but he made an astonishingly fast return to racing just six weeks later.
Laud a remained closely involved with the F1 circuit after retiring as a driver in 1985, and in recent years served as then on-executive chairman of the Mercedes team.
Formula One posted amessage from its official Twitter account to acknowledge Lauda’s contribution to the sport .“Rest in peace Niki Lauda. Forever carried in our hearts, forever immortalised in our history ,” the post said. “The motorsport community today mourns the devastating loss of a true legend.”
Austrian Chancellor Sebas
tian Kurz wrote on Twitter: “Niki, we will miss you. The whole country and the motor sports world are mourning a really great Austrian.”
Born in 1949 into a wealthy Vienna family, Ni kola us Andreas Lauda was expected to follow his father into the paper-manufacturing industry, but instead concentrated his business talents and determination on his dreams of becoming a racing driver.
Laud a financed his early career with the help of a string of loans, working his way through the ranks of Formula 3 and Formula 2. He made his Formula 1 debut for the March team at the 1971 Austrian Grand Prix and picked up his first points in 1973 with a fifth-place finish for BRM in Belgium.
Lauda joined Ferrari in 1974, winning a Grand Prix for the first time that year in Spain. He won his first drivers’ title with five victories the following season.
Facing tough competition from Mclaren’s James Hunt –their rivalry featured in the Ron Howard-directed movie Rush–Laud a appeared on course to defend his title in 1976 when he crashed at the Nu er burg ring during the German Grand Prix.
Several drivers stopped to help pull him from his burning car, but the accident would scar him for life. The baseball cap Lauda almost always wore in public became a personal trademark.
“The main damage, I think, to myself, was lung damage from inhaling all the flames and fumes while I was sitting in the car for about 50 seconds,” he recalled nearly a decade later. “It was some - thing like 800 degrees.”
Lauda fell into a coma for a time. He said that “for three or four days it was touch and go.”
He added: “Then my lungs recovered and I got my skin grafts done, then basically there was nothing left. I was really lucky in away that I didn’t do any [other] damage to myself. The real question was then, will I be able to drive again, because certainly it was not easy to come back after a race like that.”
Lauda made his comeback just six weeks after the crash, finishing four that Monza after overcoming his initial fears. Here called“shaking with fear” as he changed into second gear on the first day of practice and thinking, “I can’t drive.”
The next day, Laud a said he“started very slowly trying to get all the feelings back, especially the confidence that I’m capable of driving these cars again”.
The result, he said, boosted his confidence and after four or five races “I had basically overcome the problem of having an accident and eve - rything went back to normal.”
He won his second championship in 1977 before switching to Brabham and then retiring in 1979 to concentrate on setting up his airline, Lauda Air, declaring that he “didn’t want to drive around in circles anymore”. Lauda came out of retirement in 1982 after a big money offer from Mclaren, reportedly about $3 million a year.
He finished fifth in his first year back and 10 thin 1983, but came back to win five races and edge teammate Alain Pro st for his third title in 1984. He retired for good the following year, saying he needed more time to devote to his airline business.
Initially a charter airline, Lauda Air expanded in the 1980s to offer flights to Asia and Australia. In May 1991, a Lauda Air Boeing 767 crashed in Thailand after one of its engine thrust reversers accidentally deployed during a climb, killing all 213 passengers and 10 crew.
In 1997, long time rival Austrian Airlines took a minority stake and in 2000, with the company making losses, Laud are signed as board chairman after an external audit criticised a lack of internal financial control over business conducted in foreign currency. Austrian Airlines later took full control.
Lauda founded a new airline, Niki, in 2003. Germany’s Air Berlin took a minority stake and later full control of that airline, which Lauda bought back early last year. He partnered with budget carrier Ryanair on Niki’s successor, Laudamotion.
In later years Lauda formed a close bond with Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, who joined the team in 2013. He often backed Hamilton in public and provided advice to the British driver.
Laud a also intervened as a Mercedes mediator when Hamilton and his former teammate Nico Rosberg feuded, argued and traded barbs as they fought for the title between 2014 and 2016 .
Lauda twice underwent kidney transplants, receiving an organ donated by his brother in 1997 and, when that stopped functioning well, a kidney donated by his girlfriend in 2005. In August 2018, he underwent a lung transplant.
Laud a is survived by his second wife, Birgit, and their t win children Max and Mia. He has two adult sons, Lukas and Mathias, from his first marriage.