Niki Lauda: The Story

Niki Lauda. A name all of us motorsport fans know and honor. But how was our legends life?

(Image credit to gettyimages.com)

Lauda was born on the 22nd of February, 1949 in Vienna, the capital city of Austria which was also the city he spent his childhood in. Eventually, Niki did kart but unlike modern racing drivers he started really late and was more active in other racing series ‘such as Formula 3 and Formula Vee, at that time he was about 19 years old. His first racing years were from 1968 to 1969 in Formula Vee, followingly he started racing in Formula Super Vee, which is a faster and more competitive racing class all around Europe. 

The following year he made it to the British Formula 3, which was crucial for his career. Apparently, the British Formula 3 was one of the toughest junior formulas at the time. Another year passed by as he advanced into the European Formula 2, where he had raced against many drivers who would become or already were Formula one competitors. He made his Formula One Debut in 1973 with the March team. It was really impressive, because in summary, it only took him 5 years to get into Formula One. 

To improve his career, he moved to Ferrari where he started winning races and even two championships (1975, 1977). He achieved his 3rd championship with McLaren in 1984, where he had only won the championship leading with half a point to Alain Prost. Then came the 1985 Season, which he spent at McLaren, before retiring at the age of 36 years. After his racing career he was still technically committed, as a full-time airline entrepreneur. He had also founded Lauda Airlines which he then sold to Austrian Airlines. 

Later, in 2012 he returned to motorsport as a management and advisor, also he had the role as a non-executive chairman at Mercedes AMG Petronas Racing. He helped the team guide strategy, driver decisions and operations behind the scenes, he was also partly responsible for Lewis Hamilton driving at the Mercedes team. In the years 2014-2016, Mercedes started to dominate again, as in winning constructors championships and world championships, therefore Lauda started to be praised for his analytical approach, mediating between drivers and management. He also occasionally appeared in media interviews, discussing formula one politics and strategy. 

However, Niki had bad lung health, caused by smoking and previous illness, which led to a lung transplant in 2018. His health didn’t get better, in fact, it got even worse, he suffered massive pain and issues until he passed away on the 20th of May 2019, at the age of 70 years. Even though he is no longer with us, he is still respected as a major figure in motorsport and aviation.

Article written by Alisa Wagner