A superb and rare photo of the magnificent photo of
the legendary driver, Niki Lauda.
Andreas Nikolaus "Niki"
Lauda was a Formula One (F1) racing driver and three-time F1 World Champion.
Born in Vienna, Austria, to a wealthy family. His
paternal grandfather, Juan Lauda Crespo, was from Galicia,
Spain.
Lauda became a racing driver despite his family's disapproval. After starting
out with a Mini, Lauda moved on into Formula Vee, as was normal in Central
Europe, but rapidly moved up to drive in private Porsche and Chevron sports
cars. His career seemed to be going nowhere in particular until he took out a
large bank loan, secured by a life insurance policy, to buy his way into the
fledgling March team as a Formula 2 (F2) driver in 1971. He was quickly
promoted to the F1 team and drove for March in both F1 and F2 in 1972. Although
the F2 cars were good (and Lauda's test-driving skills impressed March
principal Robin Herd), March's 1972 F1 season was catastrophic and Lauda, in
despair, briefly contemplated drastic action but finally took out yet another
bank loan to buy his way into the BRM team in 1973. Lauda was instantly quick
but the team was in decline; his big break came when his BRM team-mate Clay
Regazzoni rejoined Ferrari in 1974 and team owner Enzo Ferrari asked him what
he thought of Lauda. Regazzoni spoke favourably of Lauda, so Ferrari promptly
went and signed him, paying Niki enough to clear his debts. After an
unsuccessful start to the 1970s culminating in a disastrous start to the 1973
season, Ferrari regrouped completely under Luca Montezemolo and were resurgent
in 1974. The team's faith in the little-known Lauda was quickly rewarded by a
second-place finish in his début race for the team, the season-opening
Argentine Grand Prix. His first Grand Prix (GP) victory – and the first for
Ferrari since 1972 – followed only three races later in Spain. Although
Lauda became the season's pacesetter, achieving six consecutive pole positions,
a mixture of inexperience and mechanical unreliability meant Lauda won only one
more race that year, the Dutch GP. He finished fourth in the Drivers' Championship
and demonstrated immense commitment to testing and improving the car. The 1975
F1 season started slowly for Lauda, but after nothing better than a fifth-place
finish in the first four races he then won four out of the next five races in
the new Ferrari 312T. His first World Championship was confirmed with a fifth
win at the last race of the year, the United States GP. Unlike 1975, Lauda
dominated the start of the 1976 F1 season, winning four of the first six races
and finishing second in the other two. By the time of his fifth win of the year
at the British GP, he had more than double the points of his closest challenger
Jody Scheckter and a second consecutive World Championship appeared a
formality. It would be a feat not achieved since Jack Brabham's victories in
1959 and 1960. He also looked set to win the most races in a season, a record
held by the late Jim Clark since 1963. A turning point in his life was the
second lap at the German GP at the long Nürburgring circuit. Lauda's car
swerved off the track, due to a suspected rear suspension failure, hit an
embankment and rolled back into the path of Brett Lunger's Surtees-Ford car.
Lauda's car burst into flames, but, unlike Lunger, he was trapped in the
wreckage. Drivers Arturo Merzario, Guy Edwards and Harald Ertl arrived at the
scene a few moments later, but before they and Lunger were able to pull Lauda
from his car, he suffered severe burns to his head and inhaled hot toxic gases
that damaged his lungs and blood. Although Lauda was conscious and able to
stand immediately after the accident, he later lapsed into a coma and a priest
administered the last rites. Lauda suffered extensive scarring from the burns,
which became possibly his most famous attribute in the eyes of the public. He
only had enough reconstructive surgery to get his eyelids to work properly, but
never felt a need to do any more. Since the accident he is almost never seen in
public without a red cap to cover the scars on his head. With Lauda out of the
contest, Ferrari boycotted the Austrian GP in protest at what they saw a preferential
treatment shown towards McLaren driver James Hunt at the Spanish and British
GPs. Carlos Reutemann was even taken on as a potential replacement. Lauda
returned to race only six weeks (two races) later, finishing fourth in the
Italian GP. In Lauda's absence, Hunt had reduced his lead in the World Championship
standings. Following wins in the Canadian and United States GPs, Hunt stood
only three points behind Lauda before the final race of the season, the
Japanese GP. Lauda qualified third, one place behind Hunt, but on race day
there was torrential rain and Lauda retired after 2 laps, stating that he felt
it was unsafe to continue under these conditions. Hunt led much of the race
before a late puncture dropped him down the order. He recovered to 3rd, thus
winning the title by a single point. In spite of this, Lauda's move is seen as
one of the bravest examples in motor racing. Lauda's previously good
relationship with Ferrari was severely affected by his decision to withdraw
from the race, and he endured a difficult 1977 season, despite easily winning
the championship through consistency rather than outright pace. Having
announced his decision to quit Ferrari at season's end, Lauda left early due to
the team's decision to run the then unknown Gilles Villeneuve in a third car at
the Canadian Grand Prix. Having joined Brabham in 1978 for a $1 million salary,
Lauda endured two unsuccessful seasons, notable mainly for his one race in the
Brabham BT46B, a radical design known as the Fan Car: it won its first race and
was then promptly banned. At the 1979 Canadian Grand Prix, Lauda informed
Brabham owner Bernie Ecclestone that he wished to retire immediately, as he had
no more desire to "drive around in circles". Lauda, who had founded a
charter airline, returned to Austria
to run the company full-time. Needing money to shore up his new business, in
1982 Lauda returned to racing, feeling that he still had a career in Formula
One. After a successful test with McLaren, the only problem was in convincing
then team sponsor Marlboro that he was still capable of winning. Lauda proved
he was still quite capable when, in his third race back, he won the Long Beach
Grand Prix. Lauda won a third world championship in 1984 by half a point over
teammate Alain Prost, due to ony half points being awarded for the shortened
1984 Monaco Grand Prix. His Austrian Grand Prix victory that year is the most
recent time an Austrian has won his home Grand Prix. 1985 was a poor season for
Lauda, with thirteen retirements from the sixteen races. He did manage 4th at
the 1985 San Marino Grand Prix, 5th at the 1985 German Grand Prix, and a single
race win at the 1985 Dutch Grand Prix. This proved to be his last Grand Prix
victory and also the last Formula One Grand Prix held in the Netherlands.
This is a very nice and very rare non period photo that reflects a wonderful era of Formula 1 history
in a wonderful way. This is your rare
chance to own this photo, therefore it is printed in a nice large format
of ca. 8" x 12" (ca. 20 x 30 cm). It makes it perfectly suitable for framing.