Three-time F1 champ faced death and lived to tell the tale

In the year 2006, I was invited to the Colombian capital Bogota as an Unesco delegate to a world book capitals meet. Bogota had just been selected as the world book capital in 2007, and the organisers had wanted to hear about our own experiences in organising events centred on books and reading. Delhi had been a previous world book capital in 2003 and our meeting was held on the sidelines of the Bogota Book Fair.

The organisers had been gracious enough to book us into a suite at the grand Tequendama Hotel (my wife was accompanying me) subsequently made famous by the television serial Narcos as the druglord Pablo Escobar’s family was shown to be staying there. It was from the hotel that our dinner host for the evening, Ms Betancour, the former Colombian Ambassador to India picked us up. Her call from the hotel’s house phone was quite dramatic. She was a little out of breath when she asked if we could come down immediately. We found out later she had parked her car in a ‘no parking’ and had already had an altercation with the hotel authorities. Anyway, she was able to retrieve her car without mishap and we drove off. Near the restaurant, she parked, this time in a proper spot, and walked us through Le Candelaria, Bogota’s most vibrant spot, brimming with bars, restaurants and young people.

On the way, I could not help noticing huge cutouts of Formula One racing drivers. The rivalry between Michael Schumacher and Ferdinand Alonso was intense and they were both there along with the Colombian driver Pablo Montoya. These were early years for the likes of Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton. Sensing my curiosity and interest, Betancour remarked, “This year, the whole of Colombia is in mourning. Why? Because we did not qualify for the World Cup in football. So, the Colombians have decided to support their Formula One driver Montoya and have declared him the best. He may not have won a single race but he is the best!” I dared not ask her what would happen if Montoya did not win the next race!  

I remembered the indomitable spirit of Formula One race drivers as the news of the death of Niki Lauda, one of its greatest champions came in. Lauda’s death did create a shock in racing circles not because he died but because he lived!  The book To Hell and Back: An Autobiography by Niki Lauda details his life and his ordeal. Andreas Nikolaus ‘Niki’ Lauda was an Austrian Formula One driver and a three-time F1 world drivers’ champion winning in 1975, 1977 and 1984. He was the only one in racing history to have been champion for both Ferrari and McLaren. After winning his first world driving championship in 1975, Lauda seemed destined to repeat the feat in 1976. He used to say, “Formula One is simply about controlling these powerful cars and testing your limits. That is why people race — to feel the speed, the car and the control. If in my time, you pushed too far, you would have killed yourself. You had to balance on the thin line to stay alive.”

But in 1976, that thin line was stretched to breaking point. The year had started well. He had won in five early events and cam in second in two more. But in the next race, the German Grand Prix at Nurburgring, a 14 mile, 76 curve course, things went terribly wrong both for him and his blood-red Ferrari. It had rained and he hit a slippery patch at 140 miles per hour. He spun out, broke through a restraining fence which snagged and tore away his helmet, then hit an embankment and bounced back onto the track where he was hit by at least two other cars at high speed. His ruptured fuel tank burst into flames which engulfed him in the cockpit. By the time other drivers pulled him from the wreckage, he had severe burns on the face, head and hands, a concussion, a broken collarbone and other fractures. He had inhaled noxious fumes and these had seared his lungs. He was ferried by helicopter to a nearby hospital and was already in a coma. From there, he was taken to a burns centre, seemingly near death. On the third
day in intensive care, a catholic priest administered the last rites. In the book, Lauda recalls the priest. The rites were administered without speaking to him and this made him angry as he had been conscious. “I kept telling myself, if he wants to do that okay, but I am not quitting.”

He began a remarkable recovery. He had a series of operations and skin grafts that left permanent scarring on his head. He lost part of his right ear, the hair on the right side of his head, his eyebrows and both eyelids. His tear ducts dried up and Lauda would never cry again. He chose to limit reconstructive surgery to the eyelids and chose to wear a red baseball cap to cover his worst disfigurements after his wife fainted when she came to see him. But he began walking, talking and about plans to return to racing!

Six weeks after his devastating and horrifying crash, Niki Lauda returned to racing at the Italian Grand Prix at Monza near Milan. He finished fourth. Against all odds he began winning again and in 1976 finished as runner-up to the 1976 world champion James Hunt thus beginning an intense rivalry that became the subject of the feature film, Rush. Both in the film and in the book, his head was bandaged and he wore an oversized helmet to protect his wounds. But he still bled and raced with a bleeding head. He fell out with Ferrari thereafter and unhappy with the choice of a replacement driver announced his retirement from the sport in 1979.

He was persuaded to come out of retirement by McLaren in 1982 and won the world championship for an incredible third time in 1984. This feat saw him being described as not only one of the greatest racing drivers ever by the legendary Jackie Stewart but also as one of the most courageous drivers of all time. He finally retired from racing in 1985 to pursue another passion, aviation but remained in touch with racing as the non-executive chairman of Mercedes. He founded three ventures in the sky, the latest being LaudaMotion in partnership with Ryan Air and the earlier ones being Niki in 2003 where Air Berlin had a stake and his first venture Lauda Air.  Founded in the late 1980s, Lauda Air offered chartered flights to budget travelers to Asia and Australia.

In May 1991, a Lauda Air Boeing crashed in Thailand killing all 213 passengers and 10 crew on board. It was one of the worst crashes in aviation history at the time and a shaken Lauda travelled to the crash site. Lauda had remarked remorsefully, “the innocent passengers had given us our trust and confidence in choosing us to fly but we failed them”.

But health problems continued to plague Lauda for 44 years since the horrendous crash in 1975. He twice underwent kidney transplants and more recently, a lung transplant in 2018. But his lungs had been severely compromised. On May 20, 2019, Niki Lauda finally gave up what was a most courageous struggle at 70 years of age. But death itself acknowledging a great spirit allowed him to pass away peacefully.

The writer is a senior publishing industry professional who has worked with OUP and is now a senior consultant with Ratna Sagar Books