Today, May 20, marks six years since we lost F1 legend Niki Lauda in 2019. Niki won three F1 world championships during his distinguished career, and remained busy for decades following, including being a pilot and managing airlines, being a Ferrari consultant, principal of the Jaguar F1 team, and non-executive chairman of Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport. Lauda has been the subject of a range of articles, books, and documentaries, as well as the excellent motion picture Rush.
It's hard to have a discussion about Niki without coming to his horrific crash at the Nürburgring in 1976. He was already world champion and was on track to defend the title against stiff competition from James Hunt.
Unfortunately, a crash left him trapped inside his burning car, and padding in his helmet shrank so it came loose allowing his head to be directly scorched in the blaze.
So severe were his injuries, both outside and internal, that he was expected to die in the hospital and was given last rites. However, Niki was a fighter and powered through to a miraculous recovery, and shocked the world further by soon returning to race after a lesser man would have been buried and gone.
We miss seeing him active in the Formula 1 community for decades to follow, often appearing in shots during F1 coverage with that red hat of his. God rest your soul, Niki.
