Niki Lauda, a Formula One legend who won two world championships following a tragic crash that left him with serious burns and went on to become a renowned player in the aviation business, has died. He was seventy.
According to the Austria Press Agency, Lauda’s family released a statement stating that the three-time world champion died “peacefully” on Monday.
Walter Klepetko, a doctor who conducted Lauda’s lung transplant last year, stated on Tuesday: “Niki Lauda has died. “I need to confirm that.”
“His exceptional triumphs as a player and entrepreneur are and will be remembered,” the family statement stated. “His unwavering determination, candor, and bravery continue to serve as an inspiration and standard for all. Outside of the public eye, he was a loving and kind husband, father, and grandfather. We’ll miss him so much.”
Lauda won the Formula One Drivers’ Championship with Ferrari in 1975 and 1977, and again with McLaren in 1984.
He was severely injured in 1976 when he crashed at the German Grand Prix, but he returned to racing only six weeks later.
Lauda stayed intimately associated with the Formula One circuit after retiring as a racer in 1985, and he has recently served as the Mercedes team’s non-executive chairman.
recognize Lauda’s contributions to the sport.
“Rest in peace, Niki Lauda. “Forever carried in our hearts, forever immortalized in our history,” the post reads. “The motorsports community is mourning the tragic passing of a great legend.”
Nikolaus Andreas Lauda, born on February 22, 1949, from a rich Vienna family, was supposed to follow in his father’s footsteps into the paper manufacturing industry, but instead focused his business skills and dedication on his ambition to become a racing driver.
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz stated: “Niki, we will miss you.
“The entire country and the motorsports world are mourning a truly great Austrian,” Kurz said on Twitter.
Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen praised Lauda as “an inspiration and an ambitious fighter who never gave up.”
Lauda supported his early career with a series of loans, progressing through the levels of Formula 3 and Formula 2. He made his Formula One debut for the March team in the 1971 Austrian Grand Prix, and his first points came in 1973, when he finished sixth for BRM in Belgium.
Lauda joined Ferrari in 1974, and won his first Grand Prix in Spain. He won his first drivers’ championship with five victories the following season.
Faced with stiff competition from McLaren’s
— their rivalry was depicted in the Ron Howard-directed film Rush — Lauda was on track to defend his title in 1976 when he crashed at the Nuerburgring during the German Grand Prix. Several drivers stopped to help him get out of the blazing automobile, but the accident would leave him scarred for life. Lauda’s baseball cap, which he wore almost exclusively in public, became his personal trademark.
