Niki Lauda

Niki Lauda

File:Niki Lauda.jpg
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	Austrian
Active years	1971 - 1979, 1982 - 1985
Teams	March, BRM, Ferrari, Brabham, McLaren
Entries	172
Championships	3 (1975, 1977, 1984)
Wins	25
Podiums	54
Pole positions	24
Fastest laps	24
First entry	1971 Austrian Grand Prix
First win	1974 Spanish Grand Prix
Last win	1985 Dutch Grand Prix
Last entry	1985 Australian Grand Prix

Andreas Nikolaus "Niki" Lauda (born February 22, 1949 in Vienna) is an Austrian aviator, entrepreneur, former Formula One (F1) racing driver and three-time F1 World Champion.

Early years in racing

Born in Vienna to a wealthy family, Lauda became a racing driver despite his family's disapproval. After starting out with a Mini, Lauda moved on into Formula Vee, as was normal in Central Europe, but rapidly moved up to drive in private Porsche and Chevron sports cars. His career seemed to be going nowhere in particular until he took out a large bank loan, secured by a life insurance policy, to buy his way into the fledgling March team as a Formula 2 (F2) driver in 1971. He was quickly promoted to the F1 team and drove for March in both F1 and F2 in 1972. Although the F2 cars were good (and Lauda's test-driving skills impressed March principal Robin Herd), March's 1972 F1 season was catastrophic and Lauda, in despair, briefly contemplated drastic action but finally took out yet another bank loan to buy his way into the BRM team in 1973. Lauda was instantly quick but the team was in decline; his big break came when his BRM team-mate Clay Regazzoni rejoined Ferrari in 1974 and team owner Enzo Ferrari asked him what he thought of Lauda. Regazzoni spoke favourably of Lauda, so Ferrari promptly went and signed him, paying Niki enough to clear his debts.

Ferrari 1974-1977

After an unsuccessful start to the 1970s culminating in a disastrous start to the 1973 season, Ferrari regrouped completely under Luca Montezemolo and were resurgent in 1974. The team's faith in the little-known Lauda was quickly rewarded by a second-place finish in his début race for the team, the season-opening Argentine Grand Prix. His first Grand Prix (GP) victory – and the first for Ferrari since 1972 – followed only three races later in Spain. Although Lauda became the season's pacesetter, achieving six consecutive pole positions, a mixture of inexperience and mechanical unreliability meant Lauda won only one more race that year, the Dutch GP. He finished fourth in the Drivers' Championship and demonstrated immense commitment to testing and improving the car.

The 1975 F1 season started slowly for Lauda, but after nothing better than a fifth-place finish in the first four races he then won four out of the next five races in the new Ferrari 312T. His first World Championship was confirmed with a fifth win at the last race of the year, the United States GP.

Unlike 1975, Lauda dominated the start of the 1976 F1 season, winning four of the first six races and finishing second in the other two. By the time of his fifth win of the year at the British GP, he had more than double the points of his closest challenger Jody Scheckter and a second consecutive World Championship appeared a formality. It would be a feat not achieved since Jack Brabham's victories in 1959 and 1960.

Niki Lauda practicing at the Nürburgring during the 1976 German Grand Prix.

In the next race, however, the German GP at the long Nürburgring circuit, disaster struck. On the second lap of the race, Lauda's car swerved off the track, due to a suspected rear suspension failure, hit an embankment and rolled back into the path of Brett Lunger's Surtees-Ford car. Lauda's car burst into flames, but, unlike Lunger, he was trapped in the wreckage. Drivers Arturo Merzario and Guy Edwards arrived at the scene a few moments later, but before they and Lunger were able to pull Lauda from his car, he suffered severe burns to his head and inhaled hot toxic gases that damaged his lungs and blood. Although Lauda was conscious and able to stand immediately after the accident, he later lapsed into a coma and a priest administered the last rites.

Lauda suffered extensive scarring from the burns, which became possibly his most famous attribute in the eyes of the public. He only had enough reconstructive surgery to get his eyelids to work properly, but never felt a need to do any more. This also contributed to his reputation as being cold and computer-like. Since the accident he is almost never seen in public without his loyal red Parmalat cap to cover the scars on his head, another recognizable attribute.

Incredibly, Lauda not only survived his injuries but returned to race only six weeks (two races) later, finishing a sensational fourth in the Italian GP. During Lauda's absence, McLaren driver James Hunt had reduced Lauda's lead in the World Championship standings. Following wins in the Canadian and United States GPs, Hunt stood only three points behind Lauda before the final race of the season, the Japanese GP.

Lauda qualified third, one place behind Hunt, but on race day there was torrential rain and Lauda retired after 2 laps, stating that he felt it was unsafe to continue under these conditions. Hunt led much of the race before a late puncture dropped him down the order. He recovered to 3rd, thus winning the title by a single point.

Lauda's previously good relationship with Ferrari was severely affected by his decision to withdraw from the race, and he endured a difficult 1977 season, despite easily winning the championship through consistency rather than outright pace. Having announced his decision to quit Ferrari at season's end, Lauda left early due to the team's decision to run the then unknown Gilles Villeneuve in a third car at the Canadian Grand Prix.

Brabham, retirement and the comeback with McLaren

Having joined Brabham in 1978 for a $1 million salary, Lauda endured two unsuccessful seasons, notable mainly for his one race in the Brabham BT46B, a radical design known as the Fan Car: it won its first race and was then promptly banned. At the 1979 Canadian Grand Prix, Lauda informed Brabham owner Bernie Ecclestone that he wished to retire immediately, as he had no more desire to "drive around in circles". Lauda, who had founded a charter airline, returned to Austria to run the company full-time.

Needing money to shore up his new business, in 1982 Lauda returned to racing, feeling that he still had a career in Formula One. After a successful test with McLaren, the only problem was in convincing then team sponsor Marlboro that he was still capable of winning. Lauda proved he was still quite capable when, in his third race back, he won the Long Beach Grand Prix. Lauda won a third world championship in 1984 by one-half point over teammate Alain Prost.

He returned to running his airline, Lauda Air, on his retirement in 1985. Ousted by boardroom politics after a sale to majority partner Austrian Airlines in 1999, he managed the Jaguar Formula One racing team 2001-2002. In late 2003, he started a new airline, Niki. Today his commentary on Formula 1 is widely quoted in the motorsport press.

He was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1993.

As a driver, Lauda was renowned for his clear-headed approach to driving, minimising risk whilst maximising results, and ruthless self-interest. Lauda is considered one of the most accomplished test drivers in the sport, often working long hours refining his car's performance.

Niki Lauda has written four books; The Art and Science of Grand Prix Driving (1975), My Years With Ferrari (1977), The New Formula One: A Turbo Age (1984), and Meine Story (1986). Lauda credits Austrian journalist Herbert Volker with editing the books.

Lauda is sometimes known by the rather uncomplimentary nickname "the rat" or "SuperRat", for his prominent buck teeth. He has been associated with both Parmalat and Viessmann, sponsoring his ever faithful 'cappy' from 1976 onwards.

For the 2007 season, Formula One's official website, www.formula1.com, has held a season preview with Lauda. In part one of the preview Lauda talks about how he thinks individual drivers will perform and focuses his opinions on overall teams as a whole in part two. Formula1.com bills the preview as being exclusive to their site.

Complete Formula One results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Team	WDC	Points
1971	March	RSA	ESP	MON	DUT	FRA	GBR	DEU	AUT Ret	ITA	CAN	USA							March	N/A	0
1972	March	ARG 11	RSA 7	ESP Ret	MON 16	BEL 12	FRA Ret	GBR 9	DEU Ret	AUT 10	ITA 13	CAN DSQ	USA NC						March	23rd	0
1973	BRM	ARG Ret	BRA 8	RSA Ret	ESP Ret	BEL 5	MON Ret	SWE 13	FRA 9	GBR 12	DUT Ret	DEU Ret	AUT DNS	ITA Ret	CAN Ret	USA Ret			BRM	18th	2
1974	Ferrari	ARG 2	BRA Ret	RSA 16	ESP 1	BEL 2	MON Ret	SWE Ret	DUT 1	FRA 2	GBR 5	DEU Ret	AUT Ret	ITA Ret	CAN Ret	USA Ret			Ferrari	4th	38
1975	Ferrari	ARG 6	BRA 5	RSA 5	ESP Ret	MON 1	BEL 1	SWE 1	DUT 2	FRA 1	GBR 8	DEU 3	AUT 6	ITA 3	USA 1				Ferrari	1st	64.5
1976	Ferrari	BRA 1	RSA 1	USAW 2	ESP 2	BEL 1	MON 1	SWE 3	FRA Ret	GBR 1	DEU Ret	AUT Inj	DUT Inj	ITA 4	CAN 8	USA 3	JPN Ret		Ferrari	2nd	68
1977	Ferrari	ARG Ret	BRA 3	SAF 1	USAW 2	ESP DNS	MON 2	BEL 2	SWE Ret	FRA 5	GBR 2	GER 1	AUT 2	DUT 1	ITA 2	USA 4	CAN	JPN	Ferrari	1st	72
1978	Brabham	ARG 2	BRA 3	SAF Ret	USAW Ret	MON 2	BEL Ret	ESP Ret	SWE 1	FRA Ret	GBR 2	GER Ret	AUT Ret	DUT 3	ITA 1	USA Ret	CAN Ret		Brabham	4th	44
1979	Brabham	ARG Ret	BRA Ret	SAF 6	USAW Ret	ESP Ret	BEL Ret	MON Ret	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	GER Ret	AUT Ret	DUT Ret	ITA 4	CAN DNP	USA			Brabham	20th	4
1982	McLaren	SAF 4	BRA Ret	USAW 1	SMR	BEL DSQ	MON Ret	USAE Ret	CAN Ret	DUT 4	GBR 1	FRA 8	GER DNS	AUT 5	SWI 3	ITA Ret	LAS Ret		McLaren	5th	30
1983	McLaren	BRA 3	USAW 2	FRA Ret	SMR Ret	MON DNQ	BEL Ret	USAE Ret	CAN Ret	GBR 6	GER DSQ	AUT 6	DUT Ret	ITA Ret	EUR Ret	SAF 11			McLaren	10th	12
1984	McLaren	BRA Ret	SAF 1	BEL Ret	SMR Ret	FRA 1	MON Ret	CAN 2	USAE Ret	USA 9	GBR 1	GER 2	AUT 1	DUT 2	ITA 1	EUR 4	POR 2		McLaren	1st	72
1985	McLaren	BRA Ret	POR Ret	SMR 4	MON Ret	CAN Ret	USAE Ret	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	GER 5	AUT Ret	DUT 1	ITA Ret	BEL DNS	EUR Inj	SAF Ret	EUR Ret	AUS Ret	McLaren	10th	14