The Austrian racer is best known for displaying his doggedness on and off the race track
Austrian Formula 1 racing legend Andreas Niklaus Lauda passed away earlier this week. He was more than a legend. His comeback from his fiery accident at the old Nurburgring is one of the most remarkable stories in sports, to race just six weeks after almost losing your life is a great subject for a movie and it was made into one. Rush documented the 1976 Formula 1 World Championship. Lauda was not a flamboyant playboy in the mould of many of the British racers of that era, but he was good. So good that he made another comeback in the 1980s when he drove a McLaren to his third World title after winning two with Ferrari. We can always wonder how many world championships Lauda would have won had he not had his devastating accident or retired from the sport for the first time, but his impact on the world of motorsport is possibly much greater than his three titles and his later role as the Chairman of Mercedes-AMG F1 Racing, the dominant team of the contemporary Formula 1 era.
Lauda’s accident, something he barely survived back in 1976, ultimately claimed him. Its after-effects played a role in his death as the flames and even the fire extinguisher fumes seared the inside of his lungs, causing permanent damage. Ironically, it happened despite the fact that the Austrian had led other drivers in protesting the unsafe conditions of the race. Jules Bianchi’s death a couple of years ago was an aberration. When Niki Lauda was racing at his prime, at least three-four Formula 1 drivers died every year and drivers, fan and even administrators took that to be a fact of life. Of course, the move towards safety had begun in the 1960s with drivers like Jackie Stewart, but Lauda supercharged that movement. And while it was finally the dramatic events of the San Marino Grand Prix in 1994 when Ayrton Senna died that finally pushed the safety agenda for race cars and even road cars to the central agenda, the near-death of Niki Lauda is what really pushed the safety agenda out of the fringes.
However, more than just being a great driver, Lauda’s doggedness came out more dramatically to the rest of the world when he personally went to the crash site of Lauda Air 004 in Thailand.
Niki Lauda came from a wealthy Austrian family and once he retired from the sport finally, he got into his other love, aviation. He began Lauda Air as an airline catering to tourists but it suffered a horrible accident when 196 people died at that aforementioned crash. Lauda himself went to the site in order to give answers to those who died. And like the Boeing 737 MAX today, it emerged that there was a technical fault that caused the crash. It was Lauda’s remarkable determination and engineering skill that got Boeing to admit that they made a mistake which caused the thrust reversers to open mid-flight causing the crash.
Lauda’s determination and skills will be missed from the Formula 1 circuit and as the grid collects at the annual signature race in Monaco this year, I hope the race car series sends him off in style to race in the heavens!
