The Brabham years of Niki Lauda

It was a happy and relaxed Lauda who arrived at Brabham in 1978. However, after a promising first season, the climate and results deteriorated to the point of causing a hasty retirement of the unpredictable Austrian.

Published on 03/12/2022 à 09:00

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Maximum attack for Niki Lauda in the streets of Monaco © DPPI

This article can be found in our Niki Lauda Collector. 132 pages which retrace the career of the Austrian Champion! He is availableavailable in our online store in version paper et PRESENCE.

Even before joining his new team, Lauda had dotted the i’s: “Two elements made my decision for Brabham: the team manager and the engineer. Bernie Ecclestone is a great guy. With him, it’s “oui” or “no”, there is no “maybe”. I had four years of maybe, that's enough for me. As for Gordon Murray, I think he is among the best engineers. The only thing that matters to me is making sure I do a lot of testing. It doesn't matter if I'm first pilot or not. I don't need the help of a number two either. I'm doing very well on my own as long as the team follows and I can develop my car as I see fit. For this, the team must work with me to win races. »

Two intense years for Niki Lauda at Brabham © Bernard Asset

Here is poor John Watson warned. As brilliant as he was unlucky during the previous season, the Irishman will have to live in the shadow of the new darling of the British team, who is racing