Great driver. Up there with Sterling Moss and Jimmy Clark, IMHO. There's a movie made by Ron Howard of Lauda's rivalry with James Hunt called "Rush" which is very good. RIP, Mister Lauda.
Iconic and legendary Austrian driver. Niki never was bashful about speaking his mind for better or worse. He led an amazing life, and his recovery from the aforementioned accident at the Nurburgring was nothing short of remarkable.
I saw an "Air Disasters" on Smithsonian channel when there was a Lauda Airlines crash. He worked for years to prove it was not pilot error but a mechanical problem that caused the crash and it helped air safety in the future. I gained a lot of respect for him after watching that.
From an interview with Niki... shows his kind of humour:
"Well, that was one of those american morningshows, they came to the Nürburgring, and such a woman, tall, blond, everything, wanted to interview me at the accident site. They all had said: Ui, he will cry for sure, that will be a very emotional moment! But I've taken a kipferl (kind of a croissant) from the hotel buffet and put it in the grass first. It starts: "Mister Lauda, how is it to be here ..." I say: "Just a moment!" And I go a few steps into the grass. She asks, "What are you doing?" I say, "Oh look, here's my ear!" That was done. She has lost her composure. They had to do everything again. "
Still remember the accident. I was only 8 years old them but already a huge Ferrari fan. Niki was my hero!
It was a complete shock: the crash, the fire, the endless seconds before they were able to take him out of the cabin, the motionless body lying on the grass then, finally, the ambulance.
Ferrari is a sort of religion here in Italy, for following days newspaper or tv followed step by step the miraculous recovery.
One month and a half later, Niki was back on his Ferrari in Monza (I was there, my first live Formula 1 race)
Epic!!! But unfortunately not enough to win the championship. One of the most unjust virdicts of the history of all sports.