The news of Niki Lauda passing away punched a hole in my heart and that of millions of motor racing fans. Close friends and family offered condolences as anyone who knew me well enough also knew Niki Lauda was my childhood hero. In fact, I had named my elder son, Niki, after him!
I had been keeping a close tab on Niki’s health, which had deteriorated after a lung infection he contracted following a lung transplant. I always thought he was indestructible after his accident of 1976 immortalised him, and in recent years, he survived a kidney transplant, which is why it’s hard to fathom that Niki is no more.
Like a die-hard fan, I know all his statistics by heart; three world championships, 25 wins, 24 pole positions, 24 fastest laps, 54 podiums and 420.5 points from 171 Grands Prix starts. To be honest, these achievements don’t put him in the pantheon of all-time Formula 1 greats, and neither was he the greatest natural talent like Ayrton Senna or Michael Schumacher. What made Niki great was how he beat his fiercest rivals with sheer hard work, determination and shrewdness. He rebelled against his rich dad, gambled his way into Formula 1 with a loan that could have taken a lifetime to repay and landed a dream drive with Ferrari, after which he never looked back.
I can’t remember exactly when I became a Niki fan, but it was soon after his horrific accident on August 1, 1976 at the Nurburgring during the German Grand Prix. His miraculous comeback at the Italian Grand Prix just 40 days later, defied belief and left an indelible impression on me. To follow a sport passionately, you need to have a hero and I had found mine.
Following Formula 1 in the 1970s was not easy. There was no internet, no TV, no social media, and not even a mention of the race results in any newspaper. My only window to the F1 world was BBC radio and Autosport and Motor Sport magazines.
Of the three Formula 1 world championships Niki won, 1975 was his easiest. He was young, hungry, super quick and had the best car and carried that momentum into 1976, all set to take his second successive championship, until his accident at the Nurburgring. That accident transformed the season into a story of incredible courage, determination, hope and a nail-biting finish at a dramatic rain-soaked Japanese Grand Prix, which saw Lauda lose the championship by one point to James Hunt, after he found the torrential conditions too dangerous to race in and withdrew.
Lauda won his second world championship in 1977, again for Ferrari. Enzo Ferrari had cruelly given up on Lauda after his accident and placed his hopes on Carlos Reutemann. It was Lauda’s steely determination that saw him beat Reutemann and that made his 1977 championship win his most satisfying. But, the pressure to perform at Ferrari was something Lauda had had enough of, and with the championship in the bag, he quit the Italian squad for Brabham.
Lauda’s switch to the Brabham team wasn’t as successful, and though he won twice in 1978, both wins were controversial. In the Swedish Grand Prix, he won in the notorious Brabham BT46B ‘fan car’ which was outlawed immediately after, whilst in the Italian Grand Prix, he took victory after race leaders Gilles Villeneuve and Mario Andretti were given a one-minute penalty for jumping the start. The 1979 season was one of Lauda’s worst, prompting the Austrian to hang up his helmet never to return. In ensuing years, Lauda focused his energies on his other passion; flying and his own airline Lauda Air.
But it wasn’t long before Niki was tempted back to Formula 1 with a lucrative offer from McLaren, and won the third race after his comeback in the 1982 season. The best was yet to come with the 1984 season, with just half a point deciding the winner.
Niki was quick to realise he couldn’t match the pace of his new teammate Alain Prost. He concentrated on his car’s race set-up to ensure he had the pace when it mattered. He used all his guile to pick up enough points, and in the Portuguese Grand Prix in Estoril, he pipped Prost to the championship with second place, earning just enough points to win him his third and last world championship.
Niki retired at the end of 1985, but couldn’t stay away from the paddock. He was a consultant to Ferrari in the mid-1990s, had an unsuccessful management term with Jaguar from 2001-02, but was quite popular as a TV commentator thereafter. In 2012, he was appointed non-executive chairman of the Mercedes Formula 1 team and is credited with poaching Lewis Hamilton from McLaren.
There will never be anyone like Niki Lauda, which is why his passing away on May 20 will forever leave a massive void in the world of motor sport.