Niki Lauda turned out to be one of the richest, most successful Formula One race drivers in history, but the road to getting there was just as dangerous as the tracks he set ablaze, figuratively and literally!
1. He Had It All
Born in Austria in the late 1940s, Lauda likely grew up with all the luxuries a young boy could want. His family made a ton of money, and his family name carried huge weight in the society he grew up in. So when Lauda headed off to college, perhaps his family expected him to take over the family business. He did quite the opposite…
2. He Threw It All Away
By his family’s standards, that is. Lauda didn’t spend much time at university. He dropped out of school and decided to pursue a career in racing full time. The whole field of racing had only become a recognized sport a few decades earlier, and still bore a reputation for being extremely dangerous. Maybe that explains his family’s overly extreme reaction.
Xjs-Khaos, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
3. They Turned Their Back On Him
Lauda’s family refused to keep letting him access their money once he went into racing full time. Lauda’s reaction was chilling. Eventually, he went the extra step and cut off communication with his family himself, putting distance between their disapproval and his dreams.
But he needed money to fund his dreams—which led him to an extreme move of his own.
Lothar Spurzem, CC BY-SA 2.0 DE, Wikimedia Commons
4. He Bet On Himself
Niki Lauda bet on himself—quite literally. In the early 1970s, Lauda bought himself a spot on the March Engineering Formula Two and Formula One racing teams. He took out a loan on his own insurance policy, paying the team a whopping $30,000 to add him to their roster. Unfortunately for him, though, things got much worse before they got even a little better.
Gillfoto, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
5. He Failed
Niki Lauda did fairly well on the new team, even winning races. But the team took a huge loss on the season overall, seeming to stunt his ability to continue to grow there. So he made a drastic decision. He turned his sights elsewhere, and ultimately set them on British Racing Motors (BRM).
He joined their team the very next year, but it came at another hefty price.
Antonio Legarreta, Wikimedia Commons
6. He Did It Again
Undaunted, Niki Lauda somehow managed to take out another huge loan to get onto BRM. His year with them turned out better than his year with March, but still not nearly good enough. Their cars didn’t stack up well against other teams. So much so that one car failure in particular probably cost the team their newest, most brazen driver.
7. He Didn’t Make It
Despite his team’s subpar cars, Niki Lauda himself started to make quite the impression on fans and other teams alike. He boasted a fearlessness that made him a hard competitor in nearly every race. So when he lost the Monaco Grand Prix due to a transmission issue, he likely felt more than ready to move on. Except, one little thing hung over his head…
Paul-Henri Cahier, Getty Images
8. They Wanted Him
One little big thing, that is. Despite his loans, Niki Lauda still owed the team money for his travels and equipment. Considering his growing reputation, BRM decided to cut Lauda a special deal in order to protect themselves against his cutthroat, team-jumping ways. They offered to clear his record of any money he owed them if he stayed with them another two years.
He made a new rich friend, instead.
9. They Paid Him Off
While racing with BRM, Niki Lauda caught the eye of another owner and his team—Enzo Ferrari and his namesake, Ferrari. Considering their own waning success with race cars, Ferrari saw a unique opportunity with Lauda—so they made a cutthroat move of their own.
They paid off his debt to BRM to get him on their team. But, of course, things didn’t quite go like they planned.
Rainer W. Schlegelmilch, Wikimedia Commons
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10. He Hated It
Niki Lauda did a test drive as soon as he signed over to Ferrari. His assessment of their 1974 Ferrari 312 didn’t go well—and that’s putting it much more kindly than he did. Though the team’s owner probably had some thoughts on Lauda’s flippant attitude and blunt demeanor, the young driver soon proved himself worth putting up with.
11. He Found His Place
Lauda placed second in his first race with Ferrari, and went on to win the team’s first Grand Prix in several years. He only took home one other big win that year at the Spanish Grand Prix, but he’d effectively set the tone as the new face of Ferrari racing. Even more, Lauda found himself primed to do things never before seen on the racetrack.
12. He Did It First
His next year at Ferrari proved even more successful than the first. On top of several wins, he set a new world record. He completed the Nurburgring Nordschleife racetrack in Germany in record time, less than seven minutes. But even with his skyrocketing success, the very act of getting into the race car regularly put Lauda at serious risk.
Rainer W. Schlegelmilch, Wikimedia Commons
13. He Lived On The Edge
Though safety in the sport continued to steadily improve, driving at such high speeds still posed serious danger. Like many drivers, Niki Lauda regularly experienced car issues like tire problems or even fuel leaks while in his races. Nothing seemed to derail him, though. In fact, he doubled down on his nonchalance, even when it came to his big wins.
Martin Lee, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
14. He Didn’t Care
Reportedly, Lauda didn’t care to keep the many trophies he started to amass from his wins. In fact, rather than keep them, he did something bizarre with them. He started giving them away to garages in exchange for free car washes.
Going into his third year with Ferrari, he seemed destined for more greatness. But a shocking tragedy loomed on the horizon.
Unknown Author, Wikimedia Commons
15. He Hesitated
After several big wins at the start of the 1976 season, Niki Lauda set his sights on winning the German Grand Prix. But this time, it wasn’t the cars that were the problem. The circuit there needed serious work. Reportedly, the track didn’t have anywhere near the necessary safety requirements, specifically the tools needed in the event of a fire.
Lauda refused to take that lying down.
16. He Made Some Noise
Niki Lauda attempted to wrangle up a protest, encouraging other drivers to boycott the event all together. As a champion driver at that point, he probably thought he’d have a huge influence on them. However, none of the drivers joined him, and the race continued as planned. The decision came back to haunt them in the most horrifying way.
17. He Crashed
The first lap of the German Grand Prix on August 1, 1976, sped by without issue. But during the second lap, things literally went up in flames. Lauda’s car skidded off the track, colliding with a barrier and another car before immediately catching fire. The driver in the other car managed to get out right away, but Lauda couldn’t move a muscle.
18. He Got Trapped
Stuck in his car as the fire blazed larger and hotter, Lauda suffered serious third degree burns and damaging smoke inhalation. Several drivers, along with one fire marshal, rushed into the flames and managed to free him from the car.
He got out of the car on his feet, but by the time he got to the hospital, he lost all consciousness.
19. He Got The Worst Of It
As if the accident and fire itself didn’t present enough danger, Lauda’s helmet also didn’t fit him snugly enough. The consequences were seriously disturbing. Reportedly, it dislodged during the accident, resulting in very serious burning to his head, face, and left ear.
Even so, perhaps people expected the seemingly fearless Lauda to walk away from it all—but things took a very dark turn.
20. They Called It
Once at the hospital, doctors furiously attempted to cater to Lauda’s wounds. In addition to his burns, he suffered broken bones and lung issues from the smoke. As he lay unconscious, they concluded he wouldn’t make it, and called in a priest to administer his last rites. The priest did his thing—but what happened next was astounding.
Anefo / Croes, Wikimedia Commons
21. He Made It
Somehow, Niki Lauda managed to regain consciousness and quickly started to recover. The accident did majorly disfigure his face, though, with scarring from the burns. But he didn’t take the time to let the doctors do any serious surgery to fix the aesthetics. In keeping with the kind of man everyone knew him to be, he wanted to get back on the track ASAP.
22. He Made A Comeback
Just six weeks after his accident, Lauda showed up to a press conference in preparation for an upcoming race. When reporters saw him, an audible shockwave went through the crowd. He appeared with his head still covered in bandages, and some even report that he sometimes bled through them in public.
Still, he revealed his plan to race in the upcoming Grand Prix and did just that—though not as easily as he made it look.
Lothar Spurzem, CC BY-SA 2.0 DE, Wikimedia Commons
23. He Was Terrified
By his own admission, the prospect of getting back on the racetrack after surviving a nearly fatal accident there only a little over a month before truly scared Niki Lauda. It didn’t scare him enough, though. With bandages secured firmly under a new helmet, he raced to a fourth place finish at the Italian Grand Prix. The fans went absolutely crazy.
24. They Adored Him
People across the world of racing celebrated Lauda’s bravery and courage. Then he pushed the boundaries of his devil-may-care attitude. He reportedly touted that he found it easier to talk on the phone without half his ear. Even more than that, though, the now well-to-do driver found a way to make a little money off his tragedy.
George Voudouris, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
25. He Made It Work For him
After the incident, Niki Lauda began to wear a special cap to cover his scars—and then he did something that changed the face of Formula One forever. He turned it into a business by offering the item to a sponsor to use as ad space. Pretty brilliant, if I do say so myself.
It seemed nothing could stop him. But everyone didn’t fawn over his miraculous return. In fact, some of his competition tried to take advantage of his accident.
26. He Had A Frenemy
James Hunt, a British racer, likely began crossing paths with Lauda in the early 1970s as he himself rose to fame in the sport. But by 1976, his friend Lauda posed the biggest threat to him winning the World Championship. So when the accident took Lauda down for several weeks, Hunt contested Lauda’s rankings. That didn’t stop him, though—something else did.
Mr.choppers, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
27. He Showed Up
By the time the Japanese Grand Prix, the last race of the season, arrived, all eyes were on Lauda and Hunt. Lauda ranked just a few spots behind Hunt, who ranked as first, and could still win the championship in this race. When the day of the race arrived, though, both drivers faced something they didn’t at all see coming.
Martin Lee, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
28. He Got Beat
The race took place during serious rainfall. And though Lauda did start the race, what he did next seemed to go against everything he stood for. He gave up after two laps, effectively giving Hunt the win. After everything he experienced, it might seem difficult to understand why that was the point at which he bowed out. But there turned out to be more to it than a rainy day.
29. It Caught Up With Him
Driving in serious rain already puts all the drivers at more risk than driving in normal weather would. But to make it even more difficult for Lauda, he struggled with watery eyes from the way his accident affected his tear ducts. In the end, he chose his life over the risk of the win. Seems like an easy choice to me—but his boss didn’t feel the same way.
30. He Didn’t Like It
Lauda’s last minute withdrawal from the championship winning race in Japan didn’t sit well with Enzo Ferrari at all. Reportedly, Ferrari went on the lookout for a replacement driver, possibly to avoid another championship-losing withdrawal. He landed on Carlos Reutemann, a driver from Argentina. Lauda didn’t take it well.
31. He Took It Personally
The whole situation rubbed Niki Lauda the wrong way, making him feel like his own team didn’t really support him. Reportedly, he’d associated with Reutemann before and didn’t like him, so working with him really got under his skin. Lauda ended up announcing his plans to leave Ferrari that same year, but in the end he managed to do it with a little extra bit of pettiness.
Ricardo Alfieri, Wikimedia Commons
32. He Left An Impression
Niki Lauda took on the 1977 racing season with finesse and skill. He raced so consistently and ranked so well that he clinched the World Championship before the final two races of the season. His next move was downright shocking.
He immediately quit Ferrari and refused to do the last races. And if you think that’s bad, he did one more thing to show his displeasure.
33. He Betrayed Them
For an astounding $1 million salary, Niki Lauda joined Ferrari’s highest competition at the time—Brabham-Alfa Romeo. It was the final blow in his contentious relationship with his ex-team. He’d come a long way from the young man who took out a loan on his own insurance to get on a team. Still, his new celebrity status didn’t promise a smooth course ahead.
Danyele, CC BY-SA 3.0 NL, Wikimedia Commons
34. Things Went Downhill
Lauda’s years on the new team didn’t go nearly as well as his time with Ferrari. Their cars suffered from multiple design issues, causing him to have to withdraw from several races. Even so, he managed to pull out a few wins, and placed fourth in the 1978 championships. But by the next year, Lauda decided to change his whole life.
Suyk Koen, CC BY-SA 3.0 NL, Wikimedia Commons
35. He Quit
In a very Lauda way, he quit with some flair. Still with Brabham, he went to Canada for his second to last race of the 1979 season. After he did his practice run, he got out of the car and declared he didn’t want to “continue the silliness of driving around in circles.”
With that, he walked away from racing and turned his attention to an entirely different type of vehicle.
Martin Lee, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
36. He Flew Away
Niki Lauda launched his own airline, Lauda Air, that very same year. He even learned to fly, getting his pilot’s license and occasionally piloting flights for his passengers. But it takes money to run an airline, and though he made plenty in his years racing, he still needed more to push his new business ahead. He found himself doubling back, probably sooner than he anticipated.
Ladislaus Hoffner, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
37. He Went Big
In 1982, Niki Lauda returned to racing. This time, he signed with McLaren for a reported $3 million dollars, the highest salary awarded to anyone in the sport up to that time. He got cheeky with his negotiations, declaring he charged a dollar for his racing and the rest for his personality.
Good thing, considering the fact that his first year back proved rocky.
Martin Lee, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
38. He Rallied
Before he officially hit the track again, Niki Lauda rallied for the support of other drivers to protest agreements around their sport. New contracts tried to make drivers fully commit to their respective teams, which ultimately affected their ability to negotiate their salaries. As you can imagine for such a mercenary driver, this rubbed Lauda the wrong way.
Lauda inspired the drivers to sit out on a race until they agreed to change it. This time, he won.
Hans van Dijk, Wikimedia Commons
39. He Did His Thing
With the new agreements in place, Lauda returned to the work of proving he still had it. In that first year back, he won the Long Beach Grand Prix. But other than that, he didn’t climb back to the heights he did almost a decade prior. The next year brought even less success—he didn’t win a single race. But he still had some fire left in him…
twm1340, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
40. He Resisted
The following year, Alain Prost, a French racer, joined his team. And just as before, he struggled with having a new teammate. This time, he reportedly felt threatened by the driver, who brought his own history of wins to the team. Perhaps Lauda expected to be the main attraction of the team, considering his history. But in the end, things turned out much better than he expected.
Stuart Seeger, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
41. He Brought It Back
Niki Lauda ended the season grateful for having Prost to push him to be his most competitive. He ended the year with a record making world champion win, his third to that point. By this time, Lauda seemed to see the end of his career ahead, but that didn’t mean the end of his antics.
He tried to make one more sneaky move before the year ended.
42. He Tried
Before the end of his 1984 season, Lauda attempted to leave McLaren for another team, Renault. Unfortunately for him, things didn’t work out as he hoped, and he ended up stuck with McLaren for another season. Ultimately, it seemed an unpleasant start to an equally unpleasant season, considering the way things ended up.
43. He Flopped
The 1985 season turned out to be mostly a flop for Lauda. He withdrew from several races, partly due to breaking his wrist during a practice race. He won one more big Grand Prix that year, then finally decided to walk away from the sport for good—kind of.
Despite his own comments on its “silliness”, he never could truly get away.
Lothar Spurzem, CC BY-SA 2.0 DE, Wikimedia Commons
44. He Stuck Around
Over the next couple of decades, Lauda stuck around the world of racing in multiple different roles. This included work as a TV commentator for the sport, and in varying capacities for teams like Ferrari and Jaguar. But even so, it's quite possible nothing ever compared to the thrill of the racetrack—which might explain some of his antics later in life.
Waerfelu, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
45. He Couldn’t Commit
Back in the mid 1970s, Niki Lauda married a Chilean model, Marlene Knaus. They raised two children together, but after over a decade of marriage, they broke things off in 1991. Rumors point to Lauda being more a bachelor than a married man, if you know what I mean. Which totally makes sense when you consider his next girlfriend.
46. He Liked Them Young
Now in his early 40s, Niki Lauda began a romantic relationship with a female racecar driver about a decade younger than him, Giovanna Amati. All things considered, that doesn’t seem that serious of an age gap. But then he took it up a notch…
Smokeonthewater, Wikimedia Commons
47. He Locked It Down
In 2008, Lauda tied the knot with one of the flight attendants that worked on his airline, Birgit Wetzinger. Honestly, that already looks fishy. But it gets even worse when you realize Lauda would have been nearly 60 years old to her nearly 30. Either way, she came along just in time to save Lauda from another near-fatal encounter.
picture alliance, Getty Images
48. He Never Got Over It
Though Niki Lauda survived the serious accident he was in at the 1976 German Grand Prix and lived to race another day, in his final years it became clear that he had walked with away with far more than burns. He suffered with several health issues as he grew older, likely long-term damage from those moments he spent trapped in the blazing car, inhaling smoke and other toxic chemicals. He ended up needing a double lung transplant.
But the issues with his kidneys turned out more dangerous. When the kidney donated to him by his brother failed, he turned to his next best option.
Veselin Borishev, Shutterstock
49. She Gave It Up
In 2005, after just a short time dating, Wetzinger donated a kidney to her older, far wealthier boyfriend. It granted him several more years of life, and the two even ended up having children together. He passed in 2019, his life ending peacefully as he slept.
But, as with everything Lauda did, even his passing came with a little extra dose of drama!
Waerfelu, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
50. She Wanted More
Considering that Wetzinger had gone as far as to donate a kidney to Lauda, she seemed like the perfect wife...but after his death, she did something that horrified family and friends. Even though Lauda left a very clear will allotting assets to both her and his children from a previous marriage, Wetzinger demanded more.
She sued for several million more dollars from his foundation just a few years after his passing. One friend was quotes as saying, "Niki would turn in his grave!" Ultimately, Wetzinger won her lawsuit. All things considered, Lauda truly led an unforgettable life—both on and off the track.
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