FÓRMULA-1

Niki Lauda, ​​Austrian legend, dies at age 70

The most common attitude of Niki Lauda during her 70 years of life was to be stubborn. The Austrian, a legend of Formula 1, died on Monday. It was like this when young, when it broke with the family to be pilot. Already more mature, he challenged doctors' prognoses and returned to the tracks six weeks after a serious accident. The Austrian also faced two kidney transplants and one of lung, two dissolutions of companies, won the most disputed championship in history and became a film theme.
Lauda's busy biography began and ended in Vienna. From the quiet Austrian capital came a toothy, sullen, grumpy young man who would change the history of Formula 1. The category grew in world television interest in 1976 thanks to Lauda's disputes with Englishman James Hunt. The rivalry between them was the starting point for the broadcasts of races to become major attractions.
"With deep sadness, we announce that our beloved Niki died peacefully with his family on Monday, May 20, 2019. His unique achievements as an athlete and entrepreneur are and will remain unforgettable; his relentless enthusiasm for action, his frankness and courage remain a model and a reference for us all.He was a loving and considerate husband, father and grandfather far from the public, who will miss him, "the family said in a statement Monday. In recent years, he had been serving as president of honor of the Mercedes team, which has been dominating the F-1 in recent years. Lauda acted almost as a luxury advisor, close to team boss Toto Wolff and the drivers, Englishman Lewis Hamilton and Finn Valtteri Bottas.
Legend
Long before fame and recognition, young Andreas Nikolaus Lauda had to defeat the family. The future heir of a financial investor grandfather had been prepared to take over the business. But the will was another. In deciding that he would be a pilot, he caused the family wrath and heard that he would not receive a penny to help with his career.
Lauda was always stubborn and was not afraid. He borrowed money from a bank to cover his expenses in the early years of his career and hoped that those with good results would soon return the value. It worked. At the age of 22 he won a chance in Formula 1, where the detailed style in the set of cars and the "grimace" style helped him achieve results.
In a time when being a pilot was synonymous with parties, women and hype, the Austrian was the opposite. Lauda was serious, averse to social life and consolidated his career in 1975. In the Ferrari cockpit, he won five races and was world champion at the age of 26. The next year he would have to be stubborn again not to continue his career, but to stay alive. The 1976 season is more legendary in Formula 1 history. Current champion Lauda saw McLaren's Englishman Hunt appear as an opponent. The challenger was unlike the Austrian: bohemian, inveterate smoker and conqueror of women to the point of fucking with fans in the bottom of the boxes, the pilot contrasted with the Austrian in almost all aspects.
The championship was favorable to Lauda when in the rainy German GP at the Nurburgring, history has changed. The driver lost control of Ferrari and crashed. The car was on fire in the middle of the runway when it was hit by another competitor. The impact of the second crash made the Austrian's helmet fly away. His head and body were exposed for almost a minute to the flames and the toxic smoke.
Lauda opened her eyes days later at the hospital. He had already received the extreme unction of a priest, passed by dozens of surgeries and surpassed medical expectations just by being alive. Stubborn, as always, the Austrian faced dozens of tantalizing respiratory cleansing sessions. The nurses introduced through the pilot's mouth an iron tube, which advanced through the throat and esophagus to the lungs, to suck the smoke still trapped in the organ. The risk situation did not get him off track. Six weeks after the accident, Lauda defied the fear and was back for the Italian GP with a bandaged face and a modified appearance. Surgery series and skin grafts on the head have changed the face of the Austrian, who lost the championship by only one point. Hunt took advantage of the rival's accident to score and be champion. The epic season inspired even the movies. The movie Rush was released in 2013.
A new chance would open for Lauda the following year in 1977, when he was champion again. After regular seasons in 1978 and 1979, he decided to retire. The goodbye did not last long and two years later, there was the Austrian back on track. He still had the chance to bid farewell to the title in 1984 in the most disputed championship in history. The Austrian was a champion with only a 0.5 point lead over Alain Prost.
Lauda's last appearances in Formula 1 coincided with his debut in aviation. The pilot bought aircraft and founded two companies: Lauda Air and Niki. Both have already closed the doors. The biggest problem came in 1991, when one of its planes crashed in Thailand and killed 223 people.
The Austrian persistent has never left Formula 1. He was a Ferrari, Jaguar and finally Mercedes driver. He was a constant present in the races and commentator of television channels. He always walked the paddock with a red cap, to hide the scars on his head resulting from the 1976 crash.
Health, however, continued to be fragile. Lauda went through two kidney transplants. In the last one of them, ten years ago, he won the organ of his wife, Birgit Wetzinger, former flight commissioner of one of its airlines. The problems did not take the former driver's will to travel the world together with Formula 1. At each stage he was there, in the Mercedes pits, the main current power of the category. Ciro Campos, Brazil