Niki Lauda in critical condition after lung transplant

The AKH announced on Thursday evening that the procedure was successfully carried out by Walter Klepetko, head of the clinical department for thoracic surgery, and Konrad Hötzenecker. “We ask for your understanding that the family will not make any public statements and ask that the Lauda family’s privacy be protected,” the hospital said in a statement agreed with the family.

Lauda has been in the hospital for more than a week. The 69-year-old Viennese had cut short his family vacation in Ibiza due to illness. The chairman of the supervisory board of the world champion team Mercedes was also not at the Formula 1 races in Hockenheim (July 22nd) and at the Hungaroring (July 29th). When asked by the APA on Thursday evening, the racing team did not want to make any statement about the condition of the co-owner. Lauda's aviation company Laudamotion was also cautious.

Delayed summer flu as a trigger According to the daily newspaper “Österreich”, Lauda caught summer flu in Ibiza, which he had obviously initially underestimated. When the symptoms worsened, the co-owner and managing director of Laudamotion is said to have flown to Vienna in a private jet to receive treatment.

According to consistent media reports, Lauda spent a few days in the intensive care unit at the AKH because of the aggressive virus before he was transferred back to the normal ward. On Thursday, the condition of the three-time Formula 1 world champion worsened again, reported “Austria”.

Lauda achieved worldwide fame not only through his three world championship titles (1975, 1977 and 1984), but also through his accident at the Nürburgring. The subsequent World Cup duel with Briton James Hunt was shown in the cinema in the 2013 film “Rush”. Fire accident with long-term consequences The consequences of August 1, 1976 have accompanied Lauda his entire life ever since. At that time, the reigning world champion was fighting for survival in a clinic in Mannheim. 42 days after the accident, the ambitious son of a Viennese industrial family was already back in the racing car. 42 years later, it was his lungs that were again causing him serious problems. The organ was the most affected in the weeks after the fire inferno at the Nürburgring.

Because of the burns, Lauda also had to have a skin transplant; the red cap on his head became his trademark. As a further long-term consequence of the accident, Lauda has recently had to undergo two kidney transplants. His brother Florian donated a kidney to him in 1997, and his future wife Birgit donated another in 2005. Laudamotion, the latest project Lauda is married to Birgit for the second time and has eight-year-old twins - Max and Mia. There are also two other adult sons, Lukas (39) and Mathias (37), from his first marriage to Marlene. Lauda has also been active in the aviation business for almost 40 years. In 1979 he founded Lauda Air, after which he sold another airline, Niki (flyniki), in 2003. His latest project is Laudamotion, in which the Irish low-cost airline Ryanair now holds 75 percent of the shares.

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Niki Lauda in critical condition after lung transplant

Austria's Formula 1 legend Niki Lauda had to undergo a lung transplant at the Vienna General Hospital on Thursday due to a serious lung disease - exactly 42 years and one day after his sensational fire accident on August 1, 1976 at the Nürburgring.

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