A year ago, Niki Lauda left us

Niki Lauda will have marked the F1 not only by his track record but also by his charisma. The Austrian won three world titles, in 1975 and 1977 with Ferrari and in 1984 with McLaren. His story was made famous by Ron Howard's film Rush which focused on the 1976 season where the F1 star faced James Hunt and had his terrible accident at the Nürburgring.

Author of 171 Grand Prix starts, Niki Lauda subsequently returned to F1 through the front door as non-executive president of Mercedes GP from 2012, the current reference team in the discipline.

The star-studded team was hit hard by the loss of one of its strong men. Mercedes executive director Toto wolff is still marked by the death of his friend a year later.

“I learned so much from Niki. From a personal point of view, he always had in mind to never give up. He didn't ask to understand things, but he wanted them to be done. He never complained. He was someone who had suffered a lot, but he got through it. Our relationships evolved over the years and I think we learned a lot from each other because we were really different. I really miss having such a dear friend in this hostile environment”, commented Toto Wolff.

“Niki inspired me with her personality, her resilience and her way of reinventing. He became a racing driver, he created an airline, he returned to racing and planes and found himself an advisor to the management committee of Mercedes Grand Prix. He had an incredible career. »

“I think we have a lot of similarities. I don't look back and I don't care about old results and he did the same. What matters is today and tomorrow. I lost my business partner, my travel companion, my advisor, my coach, and we all miss him terribly on the team. »

Lewis Hamilton, another recognized figure in F1, spent part of his brilliant career being advised by Niki Lauda. The six-time world champion also paid tribute to him.

“Niki is someone I miss and will miss terribly, admitted the Briton. This is a difficult subject to discuss. My most distant memories with him are our first discussions. We started talking in 2012. I was at home and I received a call from Niki who wanted to convince me to join the team..."

"It's a huge honor to have the support of someone like Niki... We ended up in Singapore, he came up to me and Niki said something like, 'My God, you look like me on many points. » We actually had a lot more in common than we thought... From then on, we got along very well... He was positive, funny and always had exciting stories to tell. He was born to race and he was constantly thinking about how to do better. He congratulated you if you did a good job, even if it wasn't easy for him to compliment..."

Mercedes F1 continued to dominate the discipline by retaining its Drivers' and Constructors' titles in 2019.