Niki Lauda

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Niki Lauda bigraphy, stories - Austrian aviator, entrepreneur, former Formula One (F1) racing driver and three-time F1 World Champion

Niki Lauda : biography

February 22, 1949 –

Andreas Nikolaus "Niki" Lauda (born February 22, 1949) is an Austrian former Formula One racing driver and three-time F1 World Champion. More recently an aviation entrepreneur, he has founded and run two airlines and was manager of the Jaguar Formula One racing team for two years. He is currently working as a pundit for German TV during Grand Prix weekends and acts as non-executive chairman of the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team.

Life after F1

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 a share sale 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. Lauda holds a commercial pilot’s license and from time to time acts as a captain on the flights of his airline.

He was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1993 and since 1996 has provided commentary on Grands Prix for Austrian and German television on RTL. He was, however, rapped for calling Robert Kubica a "polack" on air in May 2010 at the Monaco Grand Prix.

Niki Lauda has written 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 (1996). Lauda credits Austrian journalist Herbert Volker with editing the books.

Lauda is sometimes known by the nickname "the rat", "SuperRat" or "King Rat" because of his prominent bucked teeth. He has been associated with both Parmalat and Viessmann, sponsoring his ever faithful ‘cappy’ from 1976 onwards, used to hide the severe burns he sustained in his 1976 accident. Lauda admitted in a 2009 interview with the German newspaper Die Zeit that an advertiser currently pays €1.2m for the space on his famous red cap.

In 2008, American sports television network ESPN ranked him 22nd on their top drivers of all-time. In 2005 the Austrian post office issued a stamp honouring him.

In September 2012 he was appointed non-executive chairman of the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team. He took part in the negotiations of signing Lewis Hamilton to a three-year deal with AMG Mercedes.

Personal life

Lauda had two sons with his first wife, Marlene: Mathias, a racing driver himself, and Lukas, his brother Mathias’ manager. They divorced in 1991. He also has an extra-marital son, Christoph. In 2008 he married Birgit, who was 30 years his junior and was formerly a flight attendant for his airline. She had also donated a kidney to Lauda when the kidney he received in a transplant from his brother years earlier failed. In September 2009 Birgit gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl.

McLaren comeback and second retirement 1982–1985

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. Before the race at the Kyalami race track in South Africa, Lauda was the organiser of the so-called ‘drivers’ strike’; Lauda had seen that the new Super-License required the drivers to commit themselves to their present teams and realised that this could hinder a driver’s negotiation position. The drivers, with the exception of Teo Fabi, barricaded themselves into a banqueting suite at Sunnyside Park Hotel until they had won the day.Malcolm Folley: Senna versus Prost Century, 2009, ISBN 978-1-8460-5540-9, p. 79ff Lauda won a third world championship in 1984 by half a point over teammate Alain Prost, due to only half points being awarded for the shortened 1984 Monaco Grand Prix. His Austrian Grand Prix victory that year is the most recent and so far 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.Malcolm Folley: Senna versus Prost Century, 2009, ISBN 978-1-8460-5540-9, p. 153 The whole season continued to be dominated by Lauda and Prost, who won 12 of 16 races. Lauda won five races, while Prost was able to win seven Grands Prix. However, Lauda, who was able to set records for most Pole Position in a season during the 1975 season, rarely matched his teammate in qualifying. His championship win came in Estoril, when he had to start in eleventh place on the grid, while Prost qualified on the front row. However, Lauda was able to come in second and claimed the title.