Vienna: Legendary Formula One driver Niki Lauda has died at the age of 70, his family said in a statement released to Austrian media early Tuesday. His death came eight months after he underwent a lung transplant.
“With deep sadness, we announce that our beloved Niki has peacefully passed away with his family, Monday,” the statement read. “His unique achievements as an athlete and entrepreneur are and will remain unforgettable, his tireless zest for action, his straightforwardness and his courage remain.
“A role model and a benchmark for all of us, he was a loving and caring husband, father and grandfather away from the public, and he will be missed,” the statement added.
Austrian Lauda won the Formula One drivers’ World Championship three times – in 1975 and 1977 with Ferrari and in 1984 with McLaren.
“All at McLaren are deeply saddened to learn that our friend, colleague and 1984 Formula 1 World Champion, Niki Lauda, has passed away. Niki will forever be in our hearts and enshrined in our history. #RIP Niki,” his former team tweeted on their verified account.
Lauda had been non-executive chairman at Mercedes F1 since 2012 and he was instrumental in bringing in Lewis Hamilton to spark a run of success that has brought five consecutive world drivers’ and constructors’ championships.
“A legend has left us. Rest in peace Niki #Niki Lauda,” tweeted 2009 World Champion and former McLaren driver Jenson Button.
During his driving career, Lauda suffered horrific injuries August 1, 1976 when, having already won five races that season, his vehicle burst into flames on the Nuerburgring track in Germany. He suffered severe burns to his face and hands, and inhaled toxic fumes which damaged his lungs. Despite being given the last rites in hospital he made an almost miraculous recovery to race again just six weeks later still bandaged and in intense pain. He missed only two races that season.
The next season, in 1977, Lauda went on to win his second F1 World Championship with Ferrari. He quit Formula One at the end of 1979 to pursue his second passion, civil aviation. But he came back to the race circuit in 1982, this time with McLaren, and won his last World Championship with them in 1984.
Lauda underwent an emergency lung transplant in a hospital here in August 2 last year after contracting an infection in his lungs, which were scarred and weakened by the effects of inhaling high temperature smoke during the 1976 accident.
AFP