Niki lauda burns

Niki Lauda

Austrian racing driver (–)

Niki Lauda
Lauda in
Born	Andreas Nikolaus Lauda ()22 February Vienna, Allied-occupied Austria
Died	20 May () (aged&#;70) Zürich, Switzerland
Spouses	Marlene Knaus &#; &#; (m.&#;; div.&#;)&#; Birgit Wetzinger &#; (m.&#;)&#;
Children	4, including Mathias
Nationality	Austrian
Active&#;years	–, –
Teams	March, BRM, Ferrari, Brabham, McLaren
Entries	( starts)
Championships	3 (, , )
Wins	25
Podiums	54
Career points
Pole positions	24
Fastest laps	24
First entry	Austrian Grand Prix
First win	Spanish Grand Prix
Last win	Dutch Grand Prix
Last entry	Australian Grand Prix

Andreas Nikolaus "Niki" Lauda (22 February – 20 May ) was an Austrian racing driver, motorsport executive and aviation entrepreneur, who competed in Formula One from to and from to Lauda won three Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles and—at the time of his retirement—held the record for most podium finishes (54); he remains the only driver to have won a World Drivers' Championship with both Ferrari and McLaren, and won 25 Grands Prix across 13 seasons.

Born and raised in Vienna, Lauda was the grandson of local industrialist Hans Lauda. Starting his career in karting, he progressed to Formula Vee and privateer racing in the late s.

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With his career stalled, Lauda took out a £30, bank loan and secured a place in European Formula Two with March in , making his Formula One debut with the team at the Austrian Grand Prix. He was promoted to a full-time seat in , ending the season with a non-classified championship finish, amongst winning the British Formula Two Championship.

Lauda moved to BRM for the season, scoring his maiden points finish in Belgium and earning a seat with Ferrari the following year alongside Clay Regazzoni. Lauda was immediately successful at Ferrari, taking his maiden podium on debut and his maiden win three races later at the Spanish Grand Prix. After winning five Grands Prix in his campaign, Lauda won his maiden title, becoming the first Ferrari-powered World Drivers' Champion in 11 years.

Whilst leading the championship—amidst a fierce title battle with James Hunt—Lauda was seriously injured during the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring, suffering severe burns and other life-changing injuries as his Ferrari T2 caught on fire during a crash. He returned to racing six weeks later at the Italian Grand Prix, but eventually lost the title to Hunt by one point.

Lauda remained at Ferrari in , winning several races on the way to his second championship. Vacating his seat after clinching the title at the United States Grand Prix and replaced by Gilles Villeneuve, Lauda signed with Brabham in , achieving podiums in every race he finished that season, with victories in Sweden and Italy.

Amidst a winless season for Brabham alongside Nelson Piquet, Lauda left the team after the Italian Grand Prix, following their move to Ford Cosworth V8 engines. After a two-year hiatus, Lauda returned to Formula One with McLaren in , winning multiple races upon his return.

Niki lauda death: Despite this, Lauda's championship win came in Portugal , when he had to start in eleventh place on the grid, while Prost qualified on the front row. Mansell A. Lauda proved he was when, in his third race back, he won the Long Beach Grand Prix. The Guardian.

After a winless campaign, Lauda was partnered by Alain Prost the following season, where he beat Prost to his third title by a record half-point.^[a] Lauda retired at the conclusion of the season—taking his final victory at the Dutch Grand Prix—having achieved 25 race wins, 24 pole positions, 24 fastest laps and 54 podiums in Formula One.

Outside of Formula One, Lauda won the Nürburgring 24 Hours in with Alpina, and the inaugural BMW M1 Procar Championship in with Project Four. In aviation, Lauda founded and managed three airlines: Lauda Air from to , Niki from to , and Lauda from onwards. He returned to Formula One in an advisory role at Ferrari in , and was the team principal of Jaguar from to From until his death, Lauda was the non-executive chairman and co-owner of Mercedes, winning six consecutive World Constructors' Championships with the team from to Lauda was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in

Early years in racing

Niki Lauda was born on 22 February in Vienna, Austria, to a wealthy paper manufacturing family.^[1]^[2] His paternal grandfather was the Viennese-born industrialist Hans Lauda.^[3]^[4]

Lauda became a racing driver despite his family's disapproval.^[5] After starting out with a Mini,^[6] Lauda moved on into Formula Vee,^[7] as was normal in Central Europe, but rapidly moved up to drive in private Porsche and Chevron sports cars.^[8] With his career stalled, he took out a £30, bank loan,^[9] secured by a life insurance policy, to buy his way into the fledgling March team as a Formula Two driver in ^[10] Because of his family's disapproval, he had an ongoing feud with them over his racing ambitions and abandoned further contact.^[11]

Lauda was quickly promoted to the Formula One team but drove for March in Formula One and Formula Two in Although the latter cars were good and Lauda's driving skills impressed March principal Robin Herd, March's Formula One season was catastrophic.

Perhaps the lowest point of the team's season came at the Canadian Grand Prix at Mosport Park, where both March cars were disqualified within three laps of each other, just past three-quarters of the race distance. Lauda took out another bank loan to buy his way into the BRM team in Lauda was instantly quick, but the team was in decline; although the BRM PE was fast and easy to drive it was not reliable and its engine lacked power.

Ehefrau niki lauda biography Lauda missed only two races, appearing at the Monza press conference six weeks after the accident with his fresh burns still bandaged. Return to racing [ edit ]. Hulme G. Lauda and Knaus had two sons, Mathias , a racing driver, and Lukas, who acted as Mathias's manager.

Lauda's popularity was on the rise after he was running third at the Monaco Grand Prix that year before a gearbox failure ended his race prematurely, resulting in Enzo Ferrari becoming interested. When his BRM teammate Clay Regazzoni left to rejoin Ferrari in , team owner Enzo Ferrari asked him what he thought of Lauda. Regazzoni spoke so favorably of Lauda that Ferrari promptly signed him, paying him enough to clear his debts.

Ferrari (–)

Nürburgring crash

A week before the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring, even though he was the fastest driver on that circuit at the time, Lauda urged his fellow drivers to boycott the race, largely because of the kilometre (14&#;mi) circuit's safety arrangements, citing the organisers' lack of resources to properly manage such a huge circuit, including lack of fire marshals, fire and safety equipment and safety vehicles.

Formula One was quite dangerous at the time (three of the drivers that day later died in Formula One incidents: Tom Pryce in ; Ronnie Peterson in ; and Patrick Depailler in ), but a majority of the drivers voted against the boycott and the race went ahead.

On 1 August , during the second lap at the very fast left kink before Bergwerk, Lauda was involved in an accident where his Ferrari swerved off the track, hit an embankment, burst into flames, and made contact with Brett Lunger's Surtees-Ford car.

Unlike Lunger, Lauda was trapped in the wreckage. Drivers Arturo Merzario, Lunger, Guy Edwards, and Harald Ertl arrived at the scene a few moments later, but before Merzario was able to pull him from his car, Lauda suffered severe burns to his head and hands and inhaled hot toxic gases that damaged his lungs and blood.^[14] In an interview with BBC Radio 5 Live, Lauda said:

There were basically two or three drivers trying to get me out of the car, but one was Arturo Merzario, the Italian guy, who also had to stop there at the scene, because I blocked the road; and he really came into the car himself, and uh, triggered my, my seatbelt loose, and then pulled me out.

It was unbelievable, how he could do that, and I met him afterwards, and I said, 'How could you do it?!'. He said, 'Honestly, I do not know, but to open your seatbelt was so difficult, because you were pushing so hard against it, and when it was open, I got you out of the car like a feather'.
—&#;"I Was There – May 21, "; "Niki Lauda speaks in "^[15]

As Lauda was wearing a modified helmet, it did not fit him properly; the foam had compressed and it slid off his head after the accident, leaving his face exposed to the fire.

Although Lauda was conscious and able to stand immediately after the accident, he later lapsed into a coma. While in the hospital, he was given his last rites.^[18]

Lauda suffered extensive scarring from the burns to his head, losing most of his right ear as well as the hair on the right side of his head, his eyebrows, and his eyelids.

He chose to limit reconstructive surgery to replacing the eyelids and restoring their functionality. After the accident he always wore a cap to cover the scars on his head. He arranged for sponsors to use the cap for advertising.

With Lauda out of the contest, Carlos Reutemann was taken on as his replacement.

Ferrari boycotted the Austrian Grand Prix in protest at what they saw as preferential treatment shown towards McLaren driver James Hunt at the Spanish and British Grands Prix.

Return to racing

Lauda missed only two races, appearing at the Monza press conference six weeks after the accident with his fresh burns still bandaged.

He finished fourth in the Italian GP, despite being, by his own admission, absolutely petrified. Formula One journalist Nigel Roebuck recalls seeing Lauda in the pits, peeling the blood-soaked bandages off his scarred scalp. He also had to wear a specially adapted crash helmet so as not to be in too much discomfort.

Glance Into The life Of Birgit Wetzinger - Wife Of Former F1 ...

In Lauda's absence, Hunt had mounted a late charge to reduce Lauda's lead in the World Championship standings. Hunt and Lauda were friends away from the circuit, and their personal on-track rivalry, while intense, was cleanly contested and fair. Following wins in the Canadian and United States Grands Prix, Hunt stood only three points behind Lauda before the final race of the season, the Japanese Grand Prix.

Lauda qualified third, one place behind Hunt, but on race day there was torrential rain, and Lauda retired after two laps. He later said that he felt it was unsafe to continue under these conditions, especially since his eyes were watering excessively because of his fire-damaged tear ducts and inability to blink. Hunt led much of the race before his tyres blistered and a pit stop dropped him down the order.

He recovered to third, 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 Japanese Grand Prix, and he endured a difficult season, despite easily winning the championship through consistency rather than outright pace. Lauda disliked his new teammate, Reutemann, who had served as his replacement driver.

Lauda was not comfortable with this move and felt he had been let down by Ferrari. "We never could stand each other, and instead of taking pressure off me, they put on even more by bringing Carlos Reutemann into the team." Having announced his decision to quit Ferrari at season's end, Lauda left earlier after he won the Drivers' Championship at the United States Grand Prix because of the team's decision to run the unknown Gilles Villeneuve in a third car at the Canadian Grand Prix.

Brabham and first retirement (–)

Joining Parmalat-sponsored Brabham-Alfa Romeo in for a $1&#;million salary, Lauda endured two unsuccessful seasons, remembered mainly for his one race in the Brabham BT46B, a radical design known as the Fan Car: it won its first and only race at the Swedish GP, but Brabham did not use the car in Formula One again; other teams vigorously protested the fan car's legality and Brabham team owner Bernie Ecclestone, who at the time was maneuvering for acquisition of Formula One's commercial rights, did not want to fight a protracted battle over the car, but the victory in Sweden remained official.

The Brabham BT46 Alfa Romeo flat began the season at the third race in South Africa. It suffered from a variety of troubles that forced Lauda to retire the car 9 out of 14 races. Lauda's best results, apart from the wins in Sweden and Italy after the penalization of Mario Andretti and Gilles Villeneuve, were second in Monaco and Great Britain, and a third in the Netherlands.

The Alfa flat engine was too wide for ground effect designs in that the opposed cylinder banks impeded with the venturi tunnels, so Alfa designed a V12 for It was the fourth cylinder engine design that propelled the Austrian in Formula One since Lauda's Formula One season was again marred by retirements and poor pace, even though he won the non-championship Dino Ferrari Grand Prix with the Brabham-Alfa.

In the single-make BMW M1 Procar Championship, driving for the British Formula Two team Project Four Racing (led by Ron Dennis) when not in a factory entry, Lauda won three races for P4 plus the series. Decades later, Lauda won a BMW Procar exhibition race event before the German Grand Prix.

In September, Lauda finished fourth in Monza, and won the non-WC Imola event, still with the Alfa V12 engine.

After that, Brabham returned to the familiar Cosworth V8. In late September, during practice for the Canadian Grand Prix, Lauda cut short a practice session and promptly informed team principal Ecclestone, that he wished to retire immediately, as he had no more desire to "continue the silliness of driving around in circles".

Lauda, who in the meantime had founded Lauda Air, a charter airline, returned to Austria to run the company full-time.^[20]

McLaren comeback, third world title, and second retirement (–)

In , Lauda returned to racing, for an unprecedented $3&#;million salary.^[20] After a successful test with McLaren, the only problem was to convince then team sponsor Marlboro that he was still capable of winning.

Lauda proved he was when, in his third race back, he won the Long Beach Grand Prix. Before the opening race of the season at Kyalami race track in South Africa, Lauda was the organiser of the so-called "drivers' strike"; Lauda had seen that the new Super Licence required the drivers to commit themselves to their present teams and realised that this could hinder a driver's negotiating position.

The drivers, with the exception of Teo Fabi, barricaded themselves in a banqueting suite at Sunnyside Park Hotel until they had won the day.

The season proved to be transitional for the McLaren team as they were making a change from Ford-Cosworth engines, to TAG-badged Porsche turbo engines, and Lauda did not win a race that year, with his best finish being second at Long Beach behind his teammate John Watson.

James hunt biography Birgit Wetzinger. Hawthorn J. In Lauda briefly dated racing driver Giovanna Amati. Lauda's Formula One season was again marred by retirements and poor pace, even though he won the non-championship Dino Ferrari Grand Prix with the Brabham-Alfa.

Some political maneuvering by Lauda forced a furious chief designer John Barnard to design an interim car earlier than expected to get the TAG-Porsche engine some much-needed race testing; Lauda nearly won the last race of the season in South Africa.^{[citation needed]}

Lauda won a third world championship in by half a point over teammate Alain Prost, due only to half points being awarded for the shortened Monaco Grand Prix.

His Austrian Grand Prix victory that year is so far the only time an Austrian has won his home Grand Prix.^[22] Initially, Lauda did not want Prost to become his teammate, as he presented a much faster rival. However, during the two seasons together, they had a good relationship and Lauda later said that beating the talented Frenchman was a big motivator for him.

The whole season continued to be dominated by Lauda and Prost, who won 12 of 16 races. Lauda won five races, while Prost won seven. However, Lauda, who set a record for the most pole positions in a season during the season, rarely matched his teammate in qualifying. Despite this, Lauda's championship win came in Portugal, when he had to start in eleventh place on the grid, while Prost qualified on the front row.

Prost did everything he could, starting from second and winning his seventh race of the season, but Lauda's calculating drive (which included setting the fastest race lap), passing car after car, saw him finish second behind his teammate which gave him enough points to win his third title.^[24] His second place was a lucky one though as Nigel Mansell was in second for much of the race.

However, as it was his last race with Lotus before joining Williams in , Lotus boss Peter Warr refused to give Mansell the brakes he wanted for his car and the Englishman retired with brake failure on lap As Lauda had passed the Toleman of rookie Ayrton Senna for third place only a few laps earlier, Mansell's retirement elevated him to second behind Prost.^{[citation needed]}

Lauda had signed an initial letter of intent to leave McLaren team and join Renault for the season.^[25] The agreement was not implemented and Lauda stayed with McLaren for the season.^[26]

The season was a disappointment for Lauda, with eleven retirements from the fourteen races he started.

He did not start the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps after crashing and breaking his wrist during practice, and he later missed the European Grand Prix at Brands Hatch; John Watson replaced him for that race. He did manage fourth at the San Marino Grand Prix, 5th at the German Grand Prix, and a single race win at the Dutch Grand Prix where he held off a fast-finishing Prost late in the race.

This proved to be his last Grand Prix victory, as after announcing his impending retirement at the Austrian Grand Prix, he retired for good at the end of that season.^[27]

Lauda's final Formula One Grand Prix drive was the inaugural Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide, South Australia. After qualifying 16th, a steady drive saw him leading by lap However, the McLaren's ceramic brakes suffered on the street circuit and he crashed out of the lead at the end of the long Brabham Straight on lap 57 when his brakes finally failed.^[28] He was one of only two drivers in the race who had driven in the non-championship Australian Grand Prix, the other being World Champion Keke Rosberg, who won in Adelaide in and took Lauda's place at McLaren in ^[29]

Helmet

Lauda's helmet was originally painted plain red with his full name written on both sides and the Raiffeisen Bank logo in the chin area.

He wore a modified AGV helmet in the weeks following his Nürburgring accident so as the lining would not aggravate his burned scalp too badly. In , upon his return to McLaren, his helmet was white and featured the red "L" logo of Lauda Air instead of his name on both sides, complete with branding from his personal sponsor Parmalat on the top.

From to , the red and white were reversed to evoke memories of his earlier helmet design.^{[citation needed]}

Later management roles

In , Lauda returned to Formula One in a managerial position when Luca di Montezemolo offered him a consulting role at Ferrari. Halfway through the season, Lauda assumed the role of team principal of the Jaguar Formula One team.

The team failed to improve and Lauda was made redundant, together with 70 other key figures, at the end of

In September , he was appointed non-executive chairman of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport.^[30] He took part in negotiations to sign Lewis Hamilton to a three-year deal with Mercedes in ^[31] He remained at Mercedes until his death in , winning six World Constructors' Championships with the team.^[32]

Roles beyond Formula One

Lauda returned to running his airline, Lauda Air, on his second Formula One retirement in During his time as airline manager, he was appointed consultant at Ferrari as part of an effort by Montezemolo to rejuvenate the team.

After selling his Lauda Air shares to majority partner Austrian Airlines in , he managed the Jaguar Formula One racing team from to In late , he started a new airline, Niki. Similar to Lauda Air, Niki was merged with its major partner Air Berlin in In early , Lauda took over chartered airline Amira Air and renamed the company LaudaMotion.^[34] As a result of Air Berlin's insolvency in , LaudaMotion took over the Niki brand and asset after an unsuccessful bid by Lufthansa and IAG.^[35] Lauda held an airline transport pilot's licence and from time to time acted as a captain on the flights of his airline.^[36]

He was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in and from provided commentary on Grands Prix for Austrian and German television on RTL.

He was, however, criticized for calling Robert Kubica a "polack" (an ethnic slur for Polish people) on air in May at the Monaco Grand Prix.^[37]^[38]

Lauda is sometimes known by the nickname "the Rat", "SuperRat" or "King Rat" because of his prominent buck teeth.^[39] He was associated with both Parmalat and Viessmann, sponsoring the ever-present cap he wore from to hide the severe burns he sustained in his Nürburgring accident.

Ehefrau niki lauda biography book Succeeded by Nelson Piquet. THR JAR 7. Archived from the original on 24 May

Lauda said in a interview with the German newspaper Die Zeit that an advertiser was paying €&#;million for the space on his red cap.^[40]

In , the Austrian post office issued a stamp honouring him.^[41] In , American sports television network ESPN ranked him 22nd on their "top drivers of all-time" list.^[42]

Niki Lauda wrote five books: The Art and Science of Grand Prix Driving (titled Formula 1: The Art and Technicalities of Grand Prix Driving in some markets) (); My Years With Ferrari (); The New Formula One: A Turbo Age (); Meine Story (titled To Hell and Back in some markets) (); Das dritte Leben (en.

The third life) ().^[25] Lauda credited Austrian journalist Herbert Volker with editing the books.

In popular culture

The battle between Lauda and James Hunt was dramatized in the film Rush (), where Lauda was played by Daniel Brühl—a portrayal that was nominated for a BAFTA Film Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Lauda made a cameo appearance at the end of the film. Lauda said of Hunt's death, "When I heard he'd died age 45 of a heart attack I wasn't surprised, I was just sad." He also said that Hunt was one of the very few he liked, one of a smaller number of people he respected and the only person he had envied.^[43]

Lauda appeared in an episode of Mayday titled "Niki Lauda: Testing the Limits" regarding the events of Lauda Air Flight , and described running an airline as more difficult than winning three Formula 1 championships.^[44]

In the Netflix miniseries Senna, based on the life and career of Ayrton Senna, Lauda is portrayed by German actor Johannes Heinrichs.^[45]

Personal life

Lauda dated Mariella von Reininghaus until In he married the Chilean-Austrian Marlene Knaus.

They divorced in Lauda and Knaus had two sons, Mathias, a racing driver, and Lukas, who acted as Mathias's manager. In Lauda briefly dated racing driver Giovanna Amati.^[46] In he married Birgit Wetzinger, a flight attendant for his airline. In , Wetzinger donated a kidney to Lauda after the kidney he had received from his brother in failed.^[47]^[48] In September , Birgit gave birth to twins, Max and Mia.^[49]

Lauda spoke fluent German, English and Italian.^[50]

Lauda came from a Roman Catholic family.

In an interview with Zeit he stated that he left the church for a time to avoid paying church taxes, but went back when he had his two children baptised.^[51]

Death and legacy

On 20 May , Lauda died in his sleep aged 70 at the University Hospital of Zürich where he had been undergoing kidney dialysis.

Niki Lauda’s wife Birgit Wetzinger Biography: Height, Husband ... Lauda returned to running his airline, Lauda Air , on his second Formula One retirement in Jaguar Racing. TUL Ret. Archived from the original on 15 March

He had experienced a period of ill health exacerbated by his lung injuries from the accident. He had a double lung transplant the previous year, and kidney transplants in and ^[52]^[53]

At the Monaco Grand Prix, current and former drivers and teams paid tributes on social media and during the pre-race Wednesday press conference.^[54] A moment of silence was held before the race.

Throughout the weekend, fans and drivers wore red caps in his honour, with the Mercedes team painting their halo device red with the message "Niki we miss you" instead of their usual silver scheme.^[55] The Haas VF's shark fin engine cover was painted red with Lauda's name and the years of his birth and death. Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel wore helmets in Lauda's honour,^[56] and when Hamilton won the race he dedicated it to Lauda.

His funeral at St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna was attended by prominent Formula One figures, including Gerhard Berger, Jackie Stewart, Alain Prost, Nelson Piquet, Jean Alesi, Lewis Hamilton, David Coulthard, Nico Rosberg, Valtteri Bottas, René and Hans Binder and René Rast. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Austrian politicians, including Alexander Van der Bellen, also attended.^[57] According to Lauda's wishes he was buried in Heiligenstädter Friedhof wearing his to Ferrari racing suit.^[58]

Lauda is widely considered one of the greatest Formula One drivers of all time.^[59]^[60]^[61]

Racing record

Career summary

Complete European Formula Two Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete British Formula Two results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)