It's August 1, 1976. It's the day of the German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring circuit. Where it's called "Green Hell" because of the dense vegetation around it and the danger in it.
In the previous days, it rained. The Austrian Formula 1 champion and leader of the standings until that day, Niki Lauda, is very concerned about the dangers of this race. He doesn't want to run on the track, which has some dry and some wet tracks. He asks the other pilots to boycott for lack of safety measures. He is not listened to.
Re-enactment of the horrific accident from scenes in the film "Rush", which tells the story of his life
In the middle of the race, after a bad start, the Austrian, who has started on rain tyres but has lost valuable time, switches to slicks. Partly because of the cold tyres, at the Bergwerk corner, the Ferrari driven by Niki Lauda goes off the track. Within seconds, the red Ferrari 312 T2 and its driver are engulfed in flames, due to a fuel leak from the impact.
The Austrian pilot's helmet has been broken by the violent impact. Niki's head is exposed. The pilot is burned alive for some time. Other pilots arrive at the scene of the accident and, without a second thought, try to help. Harald Ertl, Guy Edwards and Brett Lunger do what they can. But Arturo Merzario does the unthinkable: he dives into the burning cockpit in which Lauda was trapped and pulls him out. He literally saves his life.
With self-sacrifice, other pilots threw themselves into the flames and rescued him
When he is extricated from the fiery inferno, Lauda does something else unthinkable: he stands up and walks away from the scene of the accident to receive first aid. But things are not always as they seem. In addition to the severe burns to his head, face, hands and other parts of his body, he has been poisoned. His burnt (!) lungs are full of the toxins he had inhaled at the time of the fire. So, a few hours later, he falls into a coma in hospital. Everyone thinks he's going to die.
For six weeks Lauda fights the battle of his life. And, after this time, as an indication of his tenacity, strength and will, he is not only discharged, but returns to active duty, despite his extremely fragile health. He fails to win the championship, but takes it again a year later.
What's left of the Ferrari 312 T2
From that day until the evening of May 20, when he passed away, Lauda would keep his face and the rest of his head as it was, from the burns. To "remind him of the dangers drivers run," he had once explained, saying that "I have a reason to look ugly. Others don't."
Lauda is taken to intensive care, in a comatose state
This, however, is only a small part that demonstrates the giant of Lauda's personality. The Austrian, after retiring from racing (as a pilot, since he was a shareholder in the Mercedes F1 team until his death), founded two airlines. When the latter, bought by Air Berlin in 2011, was one step away from going out of business, its creator returned, taking matters into his own hands by buying it out so that people wouldn't lose their jobs.
It's been five weeks since the shocking accident. Niki returns to action
Earlier, on 26 May 1991, a Lauda Air Boeing 767, travelling from Bangkok to Vienna, crashed in Thailand. The 213 passengers and 10 crew members died tragically. The 'black box' was badly damaged, the locals looted the wreckage, there was not even a refrigerator for the bodies of the victims, so the autopsies were rushed.
Lauda flew to the scene of the crash, examined the wreckage and shot down with evidence the speculations of a bomb attack. He was present at the funeral of 23 unidentified victims and immediately, he traveled to Seattle to the Boeing headquarters. Given that the American company refused to announce that the activation of the left turbine inverter had brought down the aircraft, the Austrian started a "war".
Lauda inspects the wreckage of the fatal flight
Although he had flown this aircraft many times, he asked to recreate the scenario of this particular flight on the Boeing simulator. The American company refused. After ... a big fight, Lauda got what he wanted. He recreated the scenario of the crashed flight 15 times, always with the same result: Crash.
The next day, Lauda held a press conference. He said that if Boeing explicitly stated that in-flight invertor activation might not result in a crash, he would fly a 767 himself, with two pilots, and test it live. Boeing has admitted publicly and in writing that this is impossible to do. Lauda won. The souls of the victims were laid to rest, lives were saved.
RIP, Niki...
In "trivia", Lauda won three Formula 1 championships: two with Ferrari in 1975 and 1977 and one with McLaren in 1981. and 1977 with Ferrari and 1984 with McLaren. His career was marked by his rivalry with James Hunt, which was the inspiration for the film Rush.
Despite his powerful character and incredible willpower, the terrible accident of 1976 had irreparably damaged his health. Lauda has also undergone two kidney transplants in the past - one in 1997 with his brother Florian as the donor and one in 2005 with his future wife Birgit as the donor.
In the last two F1 races, in Germany and Hungary, Lauda was absent. His health had deteriorated. In a hospital in Vienna, he underwent a lung transplant. This time, he did not cheat death. Thus, on May 20, 2019, one of the leading symbols of motorsport and not only, worldwide, passed away...
