Niki Lauda trivia: 100 amazing facts about the Formula 1 legend!

Niki Lauda is a Formula 1 legend. He has made his mark on the Ferrari and McLaren team! And he is one of the most known drivers in the world!

So let’s dive into some trivia and facts about his life and career!

1. His full name is Andreas Nikolaus “Niki” Lauda
2. He was born on 22 February 1949
3. He died in 20 May 2019
4. He was an Austrian Formula One driver
5. A three-time F1 World Drivers’ Champion
6. Winning in 1975, 1977 and 1984
7. And an aviation entrepreneur
8. He was the only driver in F1 history to have been champion for both Ferrari and McLaren
9. These are the sport’s two most successful constructors
10. He is considered by some as one of the greatest F1 drivers of all time
11. More recently as an aviation entrepreneur, he founded and ran three airlines
12. These are Lauda Air, Niki, and Laudamotion
13. He was also a Bombardier Business Aircraft brand ambassador
14. He was also a consultant for Scuderia Ferrari
15. And team manager of the Jaguar Formula One racing team for two years
16. He worked as a pundit for German TV during Grand Prix weekends
17. And acted as non-executive chairman of Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport
18. Niki Lauda owned 10% of the team
19. Having emerged as Formula One’s star driver amid a 1975 title win and leading the 1976 championship battle, Lauda was seriously injured in a crash at the 1976 German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring
20. During which his Ferrari burst into flames
21. And he came close to death after inhaling hot toxic fumes and suffering severe burns
22. However, he survived and recovered enough to race again just six weeks later at the Italian Grand Prix
23. Although he narrowly lost the title to James Hunt that year
24. He won his second Ferrari crown the year after during his final season at the team
25. After a couple of years at Brabham and two years’ hiatus, Lauda returned and raced four seasons for McLaren
26. Between 1982 and 1985
27. During which he won the 1984 title by 0.5 points over his team colleague Alain Prost
28. Niki Lauda was born on 22 February 1949 in Vienna, Austria
29. To a wealthy family
30. His paternal grandfather was the Viennese-born businessman Hans Lauda
31. Niki Lauda became a racing driver despite his family’s disapproval
32. After starting out with a Mini, Lauda moved on into Formula Vee
33. As was normal in Central Europe
34. But rapidly moved up to drive in private Porsche and Chevron sports cars
35. With his career stalled, he took out a £30,000 bank loan
36. Secured by a life insurance policy
37. To buy his way into the fledgling March team as a Formula Two (F2) driver in 1971
38. Because of his family’s disapproval he had an ongoing feud with them over his racing ambitions and abandoned further contact
39. He was quickly promoted to the F1 team
40. But drove for March in F1 and F2 in 1972
41. Although the F2 cars were good and Lauda’s driving skills impressed March principal Robin Herd, March’s 1972 F1 season was catastrophic
42. Perhaps the lowest point of the team’s season came at the Canadian Grand Prix at Mosport Park
43. There both March cars were disqualified within 3 laps of each other after just past 3/4 race distance
44. Niki Lauda took out another bank loan to buy his way into the BRM team in 1973
45. Niki Lauda was instantly quick, but the team was in decline
46. His big break came when his BRM teammate Clay Regazzoni left to rejoin Ferrari in 1974
47. And team owner Enzo Ferrari asked him what he thought of Lauda
48. Regazzoni spoke so favourably of Lauda that Ferrari promptly signed him
49. Paying him enough to clear his debts
50. Niki Lauda had two sons with first wife Marlene Knaus
51. They got married in 1976
52. And they got divorced in 1991
53. One of their sons is Mathias, a race driver himself
54. And the other one is Lukas, who acts as Mathias’s manager
55. Niki Lauda had a son, Christoph, through an extra-marital relationship
56. On August 25, 2008, he married Birgit Wetzinger, a flight attendant for his airline
57. In a ceremony Lauda said lasted 4 minutes
58. In 2005, she had donated a kidney to Lauda when the kidney he received from his brother in 1997 failed
59. In September 2009, Birgit gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl
60. On 2 August 2018 it was announced that Lauda had successfully undergone a lung transplant operation in his native Austria
61. Niki Lauda died in his sleep on 20 May 2019 in Vienna
62. Following a period of ill health, at the age of 70
63. The 1976 F1 battle between Niki Lauda and James Hunt was dramatized in the 2013 film Rush
64. In the film Niki Lauda was played by Daniel Brühl
65. Niki Lauda himself made a cameo appearance at the end of the film
66. At this point Lauda said of Hunt’s death, “When I heard he’d died age 45 of a heart attack I wasn’t surprised, I was just sad”
67. He also said that Hunt was one of the very few he liked
68. A smaller number of people he respected
69. And the only person he had envied
70. Niki Lauda appears in an episode of Mayday titled “Niki Lauda: Testing the Limits”
71. Regarding the events of Lauda Air Flight 004
72. In 1993 Niki Lauda returned to Formula One in a managerial position
73. When Luca di Montezemolo offered him a consulting role at Ferrari
74. Halfway through the 2001 season Lauda assumed the role of team principal of the Jaguar Formula One team
75. The team, however, failed to improve and Niki Lauda was made redundant, together with 70 other key figures, at the end of 2002
76. In September 2012 he was appointed non-executive chairman of the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team
77. He took part in the negotiations of signing Lewis Hamilton to a three-year deal with AMG Mercedes
78. Niki Lauda’s helmet was originally a plain red with his full name written on both sides and the Raiffeisen Bank logo in the chin area
79. He wore a modified AGV helmet in the weeks following his Nürburgring accident
80. So as the lining would not aggravate his burned scalp too badly
81. In 1982, upon his return to McLaren, his helmet was white and featured the red “L” logo of Lauda Air instead of his name on both sides
82. Complete with branding from his personal sponsor Parmalat on the top
83. From 1983 – 1985, the red and white were reversed to evoke memories of his earlier helmet design
84. He was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1993
85. And since 1996 has provided commentary on Grands Prix for Austrian and German television on RTL
86. He was, however, criticized for calling Robert Kubica a “polacke” (an ethnic slur for Polish people)
87. It happened on air in May 2010 at the Monaco Grand Prix
88. Niki Lauda has written five books
89. The Art and Science of Grand Prix Driving (titled Formula 1: The Art and Technicalities of Grand Prix Driving in some markets) (1975)
90. My Years With Ferrari (1978); The New Formula One: A Turbo Age (1984)
91. Meine Story (titled To Hell and Back in some markets) (1986)
92. Das dritte Leben (en. The third life)(1996)
93. Niki Lauda credits Austrian journalist Herbert Volker with editing the books
94. Niki Lauda is sometimes known by the nickname “the rat”, “SuperRat” or “King Rat”
95. Because of his prominent buck teeth
96. He has been associated with both Parmalat and Viessmann
97. Sponsoring the ever-present cap he has worn since 1976 to hide the severe burns he sustained in his Nurburgring accident
98. Niki Lauda said in a 2009 interview with the German newspaper Die Zeit that an advertiser was paying €1.2m for the space on his red cap
99. In 2005 the Austrian post office issued a stamp honouring him
100. In 2008, American sports television network ESPN ranked him 22nd on their top drivers of all-time