F1 community to celebrate Niki Lauda’s life and career at the Formula 1 Monaco GP
Niki Lauda, one of the greatest F1 drivers of all time and a man that embodied the fighting spirit and the risk the great sport of F1 demands, passed away this past week in a sad weekend for the sport that lost one of its greatest and most influential figures. Lauda, who was a three time world champion, was also a superhero when it came to the sport. In the 1970’s Niki Lauda got into one of the worst crashes in Formula 1 history and as his car became engulfed in fire, he could not get his seat belt to come off and had half his face burned off and his lungs filled with smoke that had to be pumped out with a pipe for days on end.
Not only did Lauda survive that incident, he fought it and was back in an F1 car that very season, missing just a couple of months and would go on to the final race with a good shot at winning the drivers title that year, before pulling out due to terrible driving conditions that could’ve jeopardized his race once again. He did not win that season, but his legacy was cemented and he won in the future and retired as a 3 time World Champion.
Why was Niki Lauda Special ?
Lauda was one of the first, and best, F1 drivers to invest a lot of time into understanding every aspect of his car that allowed him to know the boundaries and lacking of his car that helped him analyze what his racing lines should be, where he could take risks and when he was better off avoiding them. It ushered a new era of drivers and today it is extremely commonplace for drivers to be experts with their own cars.
As the F1 family grieves the loss of Lauda, there have been plans across the paddock to honor his life at the upcoming Monaco GP. Mercedes, where Niki Lauda has been a long term garage presence as its non-executive chairman, will depart from their silver color on the halo to the red that signified most of Niki’s career. Lauda won a drivers title with McLaren and 2 with Ferrari. Since his accident he wore a red cap, recently with the Novomatic logo on it, which became his trademark look. Ferrari will have their car in red color to honor Lauda and there will be plenty of other teams that will have some emblematic presence of the passed superstar on their car.
F1 also will hold a minutes silence to honor the memory of Niki Lauda and during the silence on the grid, all 20 drivers along with dignitaries and a number of Lauda’s contemporaries and peers will each hold a red cap to honor him.
Niki Lauda might have departed this world, but his contribution to the sport and his legacy live on forever in the sport of F1 and beyond.
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