Biography and Wiki
Niki Lauda was an Austrian racing driver, motorsport executive, and aviation entrepreneur. He competed in Formula One from 1971 to 1979 and again from 1982 to 1985, winning three World Drivers' Championships. Lauda's racing career was marked by his incredible comeback after a near-fatal crash in 1976. He also founded and managed three airlines: Lauda Air, Niki, and Lauda. Lauda served as the non-executive chairman of Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport from 2012 until his death in 2019.
| Occupation | Executives |
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| Date of Birth | 22 February 1949 |
| Age | 76 Years |
| Birth Place | N/A |
| Horoscope | Pisces |
| Country | Austria |
| Date of death | 20 May, 2019 |
| Died Place | N/A |
Height, Weight & Measurements
While specific details about Lauda's height and weight are not widely documented, his physical appearance was significantly impacted by his 1976 accident, which left him with facial burns and injuries.
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Dating & Relationship Status
Niki Lauda was married twice. His first marriage was to Marlene Knaus, and later he married Birgit Wetzinger. Lauda had five children, including his twins, Mia and Max, with his second wife, Birgit.
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 1977 season; he won 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.
The 1983 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. 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. Lauda won a third world championship in 1984 by half a point over teammate Alain Prost, due only to half points being awarded for the shortened 1984 Monaco Grand Prix. His Austrian Grand Prix victory that year is so far the only time an Austrian has won his home Grand Prix. 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 1975 season, rarely matched his teammate in qualifying. 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. 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 1985, Lotus boss Peter Warr refused to give Mansell the brakes he wanted for his car and the Englishman retired with brake failure on lap 52. 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.
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Net Worth and Salary
At the time of his death in 2019, Niki Lauda's net worth was estimated to be around $200 million. His wealth was derived from his successful racing career, managerial roles, and entrepreneurial ventures, including the founding of several airlines. Lauda earned a salary of approximately $3 million during his tenure with Mercedes.
Joining Parmalat-sponsored Brabham-Alfa Romeo in 1978 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-12 began the 1978 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.
In 1982, Lauda returned to racing, for an unprecedented $3 million salary. 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.
Career, Business and Investments
- Racing Career: Lauda won 25 Grands Prix and three World Drivers' Championships. He also participated in other racing events, such as the Nürburgring 24 Hours and the BMW M1 Procar Championship.
- Business Ventures: Lauda founded and managed three airlines: Lauda Air, Niki, and Lauda. He played a crucial role in the success of Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport as its non-executive chairman from 2012 to 2019.
- Literary Contributions: Lauda wrote five books, sharing his experiences and insights into the world of racing.
Andreas Nikolaus "Niki" Lauda (22 February 1949 – 20 May 2019) 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 1960s. With his career stalled, Lauda took out a GB£30,000 bank loan and secured a place in European Formula Two with March in, making his Formula One debut with the team at the. 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 took his maiden podium on debut for Ferrari, and his maiden victory three races later at the. After winning five Grands Prix in his campaign, Lauda won his first title, becoming the first Ferrari-powered World Drivers' Champion in 11 years.
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. With his career stalled, he took out a £30,000 bank loan, secured by a life insurance policy, to buy his way into the fledgling March team as a Formula Two driver in 1971. Because of his family's disapproval, he had an ongoing feud with them over his racing ambitions and abandoned further contact.
Lauda was quickly promoted to the Formula One team but drove for March in Formula One and Formula Two in 1972. Although the latter cars were good and Lauda's driving skills impressed March principal Robin Herd, March's 1972 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 1973. Lauda was instantly quick, but the team was in decline; although the BRM P160E was fast and easy to drive it was not reliable and its engine lacked power. 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 1974, 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.
The 1975 Formula One season started slowly for Lauda; after no better than a fifth-place finish in the first four races, he won four of the next five driving the new Ferrari 312T. His first World Championship was confirmed with a third-place finish at the Italian Grand Prix at Monza; Lauda's teammate Regazzoni won the race and Ferrari clinched their first Constructors' Championship in 11 years. Lauda then picked up a fifth win at the last race of the year, the United States GP at Watkins Glen. He also became the first driver to lap the Nürburgring Nordschleife in under seven minutes, which was considered a huge feat as the Nordschleife section of the Nürburgring was two miles longer than it is today. Lauda did not win the German Grand Prix from pole position there that year; after battling hard with Patrick Depailler for the lead for the first half of the race, Lauda led for the first 9 laps but suffered a puncture at the Wippermann, 9 miles into the 10th lap and was passed by Carlos Reutemann, James Hunt, Tom Pryce and Jacques Laffite; Lauda made it back to the pits with a damaged front wing and a destroyed left front tyre. The Ferrari pit changed the destroyed tyre and Lauda managed to make it to the podium in third behind Reutemann and Laffite after Hunt retired and Pryce had to slow down because of a fuel leak. Lauda was known for giving away any trophies he won to his local garage in exchange for his car to be washed and serviced.
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 1979 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.
In 1993, Lauda returned to Formula One in a managerial position when Luca di Montezemolo offered him a consulting role at Ferrari. Halfway through the 2001 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 2002.
Lauda returned to running his airline, Lauda Air, on his second Formula One retirement in 1985. 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 1999, he managed the Jaguar Formula One racing team from 2001 to 2002. In late 2003, he started a new airline, Niki. Similar to Lauda Air, Niki was merged with its major partner Air Berlin in 2011. In early 2016, Lauda took over chartered airline Amira Air and renamed the company LaudaMotion. As a result of Air Berlin's insolvency in 2017, LaudaMotion took over the Niki brand and asset after an unsuccessful bid by Lufthansa and IAG. Lauda held an airline transport pilot's licence and from time to time acted as a captain on the flights of his airline.
Social Network
Although Lauda was not heavily involved in social media during his lifetime, his legacy continues to be celebrated by fans and motorsport enthusiasts across various platforms.
"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...'."
In 2005, the Austrian post office issued a stamp honouring him. In 2008, American sports television network ESPN ranked him 22nd on their "top drivers of all-time" list.
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) (1975); My Years With Ferrari (1978); The New Formula One: A Turbo Age (1984); Meine Story (titled To Hell and Back in some markets) (1986); Das dritte Leben (en. The third life) (1996). Lauda credited Austrian journalist Herbert Volker with editing the books.
At the 2019 Monaco Grand Prix, current and former drivers and teams paid tributes on social media and during the pre-race Wednesday press conference. 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. The Haas VF-19'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, and when Hamilton won the race he dedicated it to Lauda.
Education
While specific details about Lauda's formal education are not extensively documented, his career trajectory suggests a strong focus on practical skills and experience in the racing and aviation industries.
Niki Lauda's legacy extends far beyond his racing achievements, as his entrepreneurial spirit and resilience in the face of adversity continue to inspire generations of motorsport enthusiasts and business leaders.
On 20 May 2019, Lauda died in his sleep aged 70 at the University Hospital of Zürich where he had been undergoing kidney dialysis. He had experienced a period of ill health exacerbated by his lung injuries from the 1976 accident. He had a double lung transplant the previous year, and kidney transplants in 1997 and 2005.
