Formula 1 icon Lauda celebrates his 70th birthday

Andreas Nikolaus Lauda, better known as Niki Lauda, is working on a comeback, as he has done so many times in his life. The Austrian Formula 1 legend is currently in the rehabilitation phase after a lung transplant and a flu illness.

"Things are looking up. He is working hard,” his son Mathias Lauda told the German Press Agency before his father’s 70th birthday on Friday. Niki Lauda spends up to six hours a day in rehab in Vienna to strengthen his body. “He fights like a lion,” assured Mathias Lauda.

Red cap as a trademark The fight is part of Niki Lauda's life like the red cap that he always wears on his head and has become his trademark. The three-time Formula 1 world champion survived the fire accident at the Nürburgring in 1976.

As a long-term consequence, he had to undergo a kidney transplant twice. He then had a lung transplant last summer. After contracting the flu, the chairman of the Mercedes team's supervisory board had to be treated in hospital again in January. “He wants to get back to normal life as quickly as possible,” said Mathias Lauda. Giving up was never an option Giving up was never an option for his father. Despite severe burns and a corroded lung, Niki Lauda miraculously survived a horror accident at the Nürburgring on August 1, 1976. His wife at the time, Marlene, told Lauda that the doctors didn't expect him to survive the first night. A priest even gave him last rites in the hospital. But Lauda fought. Just 42 days later he was back in the racing car in Monza and came fourth. After his dramatic fire accident, Niki Lauda answered questions from the press. © APA / FRM

“How can the idiot drive again when he has just burned to death?” Lauda once asked on behalf of all the critics and doubters. He provided the explanation immediately afterwards: “The quick return was part of my strategy not to sit at home for long and think about why and why the whole thing happened to me.” “Protection against mean looks” What has remained since then is the red cap, which has a very pragmatic origin. So that the blood-stained bandage wouldn't slip when he took off his helmet, his physiotherapist gave Lauda the distinctive cap. Even when the racing driver no longer needed the wrap, he kept the cap because otherwise people would only look at the wounds and not in his eyes. “That was a protection against mean looks,” Lauda once explained. 1971 Formula 1 debut Lauda celebrated his debut in the “premier class” in 1971. In total he celebrated 25 victories in 171 races, in 1975 and 1977 he won the world title with Ferrari, and in 1984 he was crowned world champion in a McLaren. Niki Lauda after his horror accident in 1976. © APA/afp / UNKNOWN

Lauda Air crash – 223 dead The scion of an industrial family ended his Formula 1985 career in 1; six years earlier he had founded his airline Lauda Air. On May 26, 1991, another accident occurred. One of Lauda's planes crashed in Thailand. All 223 occupants of the “Mozart” died. For Lauda it was the worst event in his life. “I was deeply shocked,” he said. “My accident was nothing compared to what I saw there.”

The images of him running across the rubble field went around the world. Lauda felt guilty. It was only after several months that it was discovered that it was a technical defect. Lauda later temporarily left the airline business again. Between 1993 and 1995 he advised Ferrari, until the end of 2017 he appeared as a TV expert for RTL with outspoken opinions for more than 20 years and in the meantime also acted as team boss at Jaguar. Successes as an official In September 2012, Lauda was promoted to Mercedes team supervisory board boss and later collected world title after world title as an official. They at Mercedes are longing for Lauda's return to the race track.

However, Mathias Lauda does not think a comeback to the Formula 1 Grand Prix opener on March 17th in Melbourne is particularly likely. “We don’t have a time limit. It is important that the body regains its old strength,” said the son. And as usual, his father is happy to forego a birthday party.

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Formula 1 icon Lauda celebrates his 70th birthday

Successes, setbacks and dramas paved the path of his life: Niki Lauda celebrates his 70th birthday on Friday.

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