The "Rotkapperl" Niki Lauda has left us forever (obituary)
Niki Lauda passed away peacefully yesterday, Monday (May 20, 2019), surrounded by his family at the University Hospital in Zurich. This marks the end of a truly exciting life. After all his serious accidents and many emotional blows of fate, he was already beginning to be considered indestructible. But his lungs, which, like his kidneys since his fire accident at the Nürburgring in 1976, had been giving him a hard time, robbed him of his life at the age of 70.
His death is not only a great loss for his own family, Lauda was also one of the greatest sportsmen ever in motor racing as a three-time world champion. With his magnificent comeback in Monza, just 42 days after the fire drama at the Nürburgring, he wrote himself into the history books of motorsport for all eternity. Even Hollywood paid tribute to this tenacity with the movie "Rush" (2013).
Andreas Nikolaus "Niki" Lauda was born on February 22, 1949. He came from a very wealthy family. However, his desire to become a racing driver was never supported by his family. From the 1971 Austrian GP to the 1985 Australian GP, he competed in 171 Grand Prix races with March, BRM, Ferrari, Brabham and McLaren. He won 25 races and became world champion with Ferrari in 1975 and 1977 and with McLaren in 1984.
In September 2012, Lauda was appointed Mercedes Team Supervisory Board Chairman and with him, the Silver Arrows won pretty much everything there is to win in F1 several times.
Just under a year ago, Lauda had to undergo an emergency lung transplant, which briefly prolonged his life. Unfortunately, he never really recovered from this serious operation. He had to be repeatedly admitted to the intensive care unit with flu-related illnesses. His ailing kidneys also caused problems as a result of high doses of medication. They had been Lauda's biggest problem for a long time after the fire accident. In 1997 and 2005, he had "new" kidneys transplanted, one donated by his brother Florian, who was two years younger, and the other by his second wife Birgit. It was not until February 22, 2019 that Lauda announced on ORF on the occasion of his 70th birthday: "I'm coming back and I'm going full steam ahead." He never lost his incredible fighting spirit until the end.
Lauda is survived by two sons, Lukas and Mathias from his first marriage to Marlene and the nine-year-old twins, Max and Mia, from his second marriage to Birgit. His family writes: "His tireless drive, his straightforwardness and his courage remain a role model and benchmark for us all. Away from the public eye, he was a loving and caring husband, father and grandfather. We will miss him."
Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport is also mourning the loss of Niki Lauda. Toto Wolff, Team Principal of Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport, today paid tribute to the team's Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Niki Lauda, who passed away on Monday evening:
"On behalf of the team and everyone at Mercedes, I would like to extend our deepest condolences to Birgit, Niki's children, his family and friends.
Niki will always remain one of the greatest legends of our sport. He embodied heroism, humanity and honesty on and off the track.
He leaves a deep void in Formula 1. Not only have we lost a hero who made arguably the most impressive comeback of all time, but also someone who brought valuable clarity and openness to modern Formula 1. We will miss him greatly as a voice of reason.
Our Mercedes team has lost its guiding star in him. As our team colleague, Niki was always brutally honest and equally loyal over the past six and a half years. It was a privilege to have him on our team and it was moving to see how much it meant to him to be part of this team's success. Whenever he walked through the plants in Brackley or Brixworth or gave one of his famous motivational speeches, he exuded an energy like no other.
Niki, you are simply irreplaceable, there will never be another like you.
It was an honor to call you our Chairman - and my privilege to have you as a friend."
Scuderia Ferrari also had its say:
"Oggi è un giorno triste per la F1. La grande famiglia della Ferrari apprende con profonda tristezza la notizia della morte dell`amico Niki Lauda, tre volte campione del mondo, due con la Scuderia. Resterai per sempre nei cuori nostri e in quelli dei tifosi. Ciao Niki!"
And Nico Rosberg let himself be heard:
"Dear Niki. Thank you for everything that you did for me. I learned so much from you. Your passion, your fighting spirit, to never give up, your belief that you always meet twice in life, and even your patience with us youngsters. Myself and all of your 100 million fans around the world whom you also so strongly inspired to never give up in the hardest of times are thinking of you and your family and wish that you Rest in Peace."
Niki's second passion was flying. Out of his enthusiasm for flying, he founded his own airline, Lauda Air. Here, too, a tragedy occurred that traumatized Lauda like his own accident: the crash of one of his Boeing 767s in Thailand in 1991, in which all 223 passengers lost their lives. Niki did not let up until the cause of the accident was definitively clarified. A design fault had triggered the thrust reversal. Lauda later said: "If we had been to blame, I would have stopped flying immediately."
In 1990, he sold the airline to Austrian and founded a new airline under the name "Niki" in 2003. This was taken over by Air Berlin in 2011. Lauda went on to found "Laudamotion", a company with private jets.
Finally, a very personal memory of you Niki:
I was allowed to photograph a few stories with you, but one story will stay with me forever. Your team colleague Clay Regazzoni was laid to rest. You really wanted to pay your last respects to him and flew alone on a Fokker airliner (around 70 seats) from Vienna to Agno, where I was allowed to pick you up by car and chauffeur you to the church in Lugano. After the funeral service, I took you back to your "little" jet.
Niki, I and the entire racing sport will forever miss your character face, marked by the accident, and your red cap. Rest in peace!
Our condolences go to the whole Lauda family.
P.S. We have put together a short picture gallery in honor of Niki Lauda .
