Niki Lauda:

A Tribute from the Team

Everybody has that one Niki Lauda memory. Some, as you’ll see below, are lucky enough to have many.

Toto:

“Niki would never complain. He just got on with things. “He was just a great guy. He had tremendous resilience and determination and that kept him going. I was lucky to call him one of my best friends.

“We travelled together, we spent endless hours in the airplane, and he was super helpful to our success. He was a sparring partner, such a strong chairman and we dearly miss him.

“My favourite memory came one year when we were coming back from Suzuka, just him and I.

“He said he wanted to tell me something. He stopped for a moment, and I thought wow, Niki is getting emotional.

“He said he had no friends - he always said that. But he said if there was such a thing as a half friend, then I was it.

“He was almost teary, but it was the best comment I received from Niki in all our years working together. It meant that we were friends.”

George:

“He had so much charisma and such a personality, for everything he pursued in his life. Everyone knew Niki Lauda when he walked into the paddock, wearing his red hat and a smile on his face.

"My first race with the team was Baku in 2017. I had only been part of the team a couple of months, but Niki came straight up to me and welcomed me with open arms.

"He invited me to a concert that evening, and we just danced the night away and had such a great time. There were so many laughs along the way.

"Experiencing something like that with someone you looked up to as a kid was so surreal.

"He was such a kind person, so down to earth. He just enjoyed doing the things in life that we all enjoy doing."

Kimi:

“I got the chance to meet Niki twice just after I joined the team in 2018 – in Monaco, and Monza.

“You could see what an amazing guy he was, how important he was to the team and what a big role he played.

“Seeing his red cap hanging up in the garage will always give me goosebumps. The team have told me so many amazing stories about him, too.

“I love that we keep the red star on the car every year, it is so important to us.

“I know his story. The determination and resilience he showed after his crash was astonishing, just incredible.”

Valtteri:

“My favourite memory was the big, warm hug he gave me after I won my first race in 2017.

“He was always so supportive. I remember, too, after a bad race in my first season he came up to me when I was down and helped me feel better. It was just his presence and the words he used.

“Having the road into the factory named Lauda Drive is so great. It reminds everyone of him and his contribution to the team.”

James Allison, Technical Director:

“It is unusual for someone to be as brutally honest with himself and everyone else as Niki was and not to have a host of enemies.

“But he didn’t have many enemies because people just embraced that candid rigour and honesty, and it made him a pleasure to be around.”

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director:

“He was really honest with his opinion, which was great at the racetrack, because if you needed a straightforward view on something, Niki would give it to you.”