Austrian former Formula 1 driver, three-time F1 World Drivers' Champion, Niki Lauda is currently non-executive chairman of Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 team.
He is the only driver who has been the champion and most successful constructors for both Ferrari and McLaren and considered as one of the greatest F1 drivers of all time along with Michael Schumacher (Germany), Gerhard Berger (Austria), Jackie Stewart (UK) and much more in the world.
Niki Lauda was born on 22nd February 1949, in Vienna Austria to Ernst-Peter and Elisabeth Lauda. He was not well in his study but his parents wanted him to take over their family business. He used to play with his car toy at his early age.
[ CAPTION: Niki Lauda at his early age ][ SOURCE: flickr.com ]Later, he showed an excellent mark sheet of his school but duplicate and convinced his parents to buy a car, VW. He crashed his car by his careless driving and made the money loss of $805.486. Later, he went to The Issac Newton School of Driving for improving his driving skills. His family didn't support him for his racing career but he went to drive private Porsche and Chevron sports cars.
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He took the bank loan worth $37152.01 for his driving career. In 1971, he went into Fledging March team as an F2 driver and was quickly promoted to the F1 team. Robert Herd, March team principal was impressed by his driving skills but unfortunately, his team got the lowest point at the Canadian Grand Prix at Mosport Park and the team was disqualified.
In 1973, he took the second loan to be in the BRM team and there his teammate Clay Regazzoni spoke in his favor, luckily he was signed by the owner, Enzo Ferrari and his all loans were paid by him due to the selection.
Niki Lauda is being paid $2.478980 million per year in the four-year contract from 2016-2020 as Non-executive chairman in Mercedes AMG F1 team by the boss of the same team Toto Wolff.
He has a net worth of over $100 million.
He made $43 million by his brand endorsement F1 and winning F1 World Champion. He has driven expensive cars in his racing career like Porsche 908 F8 OHC 3000 cc, Ford Cosworth DOHC 2993 cc, BMW L6 2996 cc, Ferrari F12 2998 cc, BMW L6 330 cc, BRM P142 V12 2998 cc, Ferrari F12 3000 cc and much more.
Among his personal cars Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona worth $365,000, Jaguar XJs worth $59,990, Alfetta GT worth $17,662.7, Ferrari 308GTB worth $100,000-$200,000, was seen driven by him. In 2015, he bought New Bombardier Global 7000 Aircraft worth $73 million.
On 8th February 2018, he became the Brand Ambassador of Novomatic, ExCeL London.
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Niki Lauda started his racing career at his early age but for the first time in 1975 at the Dutch Grand Prix his head-to-head opponent was James Hunt, the fabulous British driver, at the end of the race Lauda won the championship. Despite the race, they started meeting each other and became long-life partners.
On 1st August 1976, he crashed his Ferrari 312T2 and it burst into flames at Nurburgring, during the German Grand Prix and Hunt was the winner of the race. Due to his broken bones at the accident, he was unable to escape and his lungs were damaged, his head and wrists were burnt. Later he went into a coma and took the retirement until his recovery.
Hunt became the favorite racer by winning five more champions.
Lauda returned to the sport after six weeks of his crash. In 1976, the final race of the season in Japan, he met Hunt and they both took the race but Hunt became the new world champion. Later, he retook the world championship in 1977.
In 1982, he again returned to racing and was offered $5 million by McLaren to be in his team and took the third World championship in 1984. Later, he retired from the race again and went to manage his airline and also worked as an adviser for Ferrari.
He is three-time F1 World Champion; he won his first championship in 1974, the second championship in 1977 and third championship in 1985.
[ CAPTION: Niki Lauda with his third World Championship ][ SOURCE: mclaren.com ]Beside the Wolrd Championship, he has other won 25 championships in his racing career.
In 1976, Niki Lauda married Marlene Knaus but they divorced in 1991. They have two children: Mathias, a racer, and Lukas, manager of Mathias. He also has a son named from Christoph by his girlfriend.
[ CAPTION: Niki Lauda with his first wife, Marlene Knaus ][ SOURCE: en.fli.com ]In 2008, again Lauda married Birgit Wetzinger, the flight attendant of his airline and in September 2009, they had twin children: Max Lauda, son and Mia Lauda, daughter. He transplanted his kidney which was donated by his own wife, Birgit Wetzinger.
[ CAPTION: Niki Lauda with his second wife, Birgit Wetzinger ][ SOURCE: dailymail.com ]In 1979, Niki Lauda declared to retire from F1 for starting his personal airline and he we also featured TV commentator. In 2013, Daniel Bruhl was seen portraying Lauda's role in a film called Rush which was about James Hunt, directed by Ron Howard.
Niki Lauda's was the talk of the town after his fatal accident on the race and he was on every controversial move as the non-executive chairman of the Mercedes F1 team of the front-runners and media was talking about his disabilities to stress him.
He has done double marriage which made gossip for media. He had also a child with his extra-affair which made him shameful towards the public. He has always been the controversial person since his childhood and as in growing year he has has been called as the controversial person in the media and also towards the public. He lives a legendary life however sometimes got involved in controversial activities.
The Austrian driver has often suffered health problems over the past twenty years; Lauda received a lung transplant from his brother in 1997. Years later when that failed, he received another from his second wife, Birgit Wetzinger. In Sept. 2018, the 69-year-old fell ill when he was on vacation in Ibiza and was immediately taken to the hospital back in Vienna.
