Niki Lauda was a true warrior, a superb driver and a special person who lived life to the full… at top speed
- Niki Lauda was special but the last few months had been a real misery for him
- Lauda passed away aged 70 on Monday, eight months after a lung transplant
- He was a true fighter who showed tremendous courage after that terrible injury
- Former Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone got to know Lauda over 50 years
Niki Lauda was a super driver but far above that he was a special man.
We were very, very close and what has happened is in some ways a terrible thing. But in others it is a blessing because he had been in bad shape for some time. The last few months were bloody torture and a misery for him.
I choose to remember him the way he was, the old Niki I wish he could still be: a fighter, an always-on-the-go dynamo who won three world titles and was busy and successful afterwards in so many areas from team management to business.
Former F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone (left) and Niki Lauda had been close friends for 50 years
Share this article
I wouldn’t have liked to see him struggle on and be unable to live life to the full, at top speed. That was not his way. He would not have been happy.
In the memories of the wider world it is his accident in Germany in 1976 for which he will always be known, and more specifically the way he recovered to return to the cockpit so quickly.
He showed real courage in the face of a terrible injury.
A bit of me wishes Niki could have lived a peaceful life but that would not have suited him. He was not a peaceful man. He was a fighter.
Lauda showed real courage to return after crash in 1976 in which his Ferrari burst into flames
The Austrian, somewhat incredibly, added two more world titles after the harrowing incident
I have millions of memories of him. He drove for me at Brabham and they were wonderful years with Nelson Piquet also. He was a clever driver. He knew exactly where the limits were and how much he could get out of himself and his car.
He would come in and say I can make up time here and there, and then he would go out and do precisely that.
In later years he was the mainstay in pulling Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes team together. He had the support of the Mercedes board but, 100 per cent, without him they would not have achieved what they have.
Yes, Niki was a warrior, and just a bit special in general.
Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes team would not have achieved what they have without Lauda
