Two men, one destiny
07/31/2021
Mansour Ojjeh and Niki Lauda share a world championship title, but also the same fate.
Ojjeh had been a partner in the McLaren F1 team since 1984. He played a decisive role in Lauda's third world championship title, as he financed a pioneering engine with his company "TAG" (Techniques d`Avantgarde) and the partnership with Porsche.
The Saudi Arabian businessman died at the age of 68. The son of a Syrian father and a French mother, he came into contact with motorsport purely by chance as a guest of the Saudi royal family, who supported Frank Williams and his team at the 1978 Monaco GP.
He joined Williams with "TAG" and won the 1979 British GP with Clay Regazzoni, followed by the world championship titles of Alan Jones (1980) and Keke Rosberg (1982).
Then came the switch to McLaren with the "TAG-Turbo by Porsche", with which Lauda and Prost won three world championship titles.
Ojjeh, who is also known from "TAG Heuer", had to struggle with serious health problems in 2013: he was dependent on a transplant of both lungs.
Niki Lauda also had a lung transplant. "That was certainly the worst experience of my life," said Lauda about his stay in hospital from the end of July to the end of October. "It was crazy. Just lying in bed for months, surrounded by staff who somehow kept me alive."
The new lung initially worked perfectly. "I didn't have time to read. I got up at eight o'clock in the morning, then my training program started, breakfast with the children and then it was off to the tennis court," says Lauda.
Niki Lauda passed away on 20.5. 2019, Mansour Ojjeh on 6.6.2021
The photo was taken in Bahrain and shows Mansour Ojjeh and Niki Lauda in conversation with Jean Todt on March 17, 2002.
