Niki Lauda was the victim of one of the worst crashes in F1 history when his Ferrari caught fire at Nürburgring in 1976.
The 1976 German Grand Prix was perhaps one of the most infamous races of all time. The Nürburgring circuit had a poor reputation in terms of safety and a lot of drivers never liked racing there. One day before the race in 1976, Lauda, who was driving for Ferrari at the time, urged his fellow drivers to boycott the race.
He cited the lack of safety measurements, fire marshals and equipment as his reasons to not go ahead with the race. However, majority of the drivers voted for the GP to go ahead and so it did.
On 1st August, during the second lap of the German GP, Lauda’s Ferrari swerved off track, hit and embankment and burst into flames. He remained trapped in his car surrounded by a burning inferno and wasn’t able to get out.
Several drivers who were passing by stooped to help Lauda, but it was Arturo Merzario who was able to pull him out.
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Merzario was driving for Wolff at the time. He saw Lauda trapped in his burning Ferrari chassis and rushed for help. By the time the Austrian was pulled out of his car, he suffered severe burns to his head and inhaled a large quantity of toxic gasses, which damaged his lungs.
In spite of suffering serious injuries and slipping into a coma shortly after his crash, Lauda missed only the subsequent two races. He returned 6 weeks later at the Italian GP in Monza and even finished the race in 4th place.
Arturo Merzario was Niki Lauda’ Guardian Angel at the 1976 German Grand Prix
Had it not been for Merzario’s heroics that day, Lauda would quite possibly have lost his life. His heroic actions were never forgotten by the 3-time World Champion, who remained grateful towards the Italian for the rest of his life.
“There was a guy called Arturo Merzario who jumped into the fire and alone pulled me out of the wreckage. So I survived. So he really saved my life there because a couple of seconds more I would have never made it.” the late Niki Lauda said.
At the 1976 Monaco GP, Lauda was seen gifting Merzario a brand new gold Rolex watch. He won it after getting pole position, but decided to give it to Merzario out of gratitude for saving his life in Germany.
Lauda had won the 1975 World Championship with Ferrari. He lost out on the ’76 title to British rival James Hunt, but went on to win the Crown two more times in his illustrious F1 career.
He remained involved with the world of F1 long after his racing career ended. The Austrian legend was the non-executive chairman of Mercedes from 2012 until his death in 2019.
