The former Formula One driver and three-time world champion Niki Lauda has died at the age of 70, his family has said. The Austrian died overnight on Monday, eight months after receiving a lung transplant.
After winning his first Formula One Drivers Championship in 1975, Luda won four of the first six races in 1976 and looked destined to defend his title but that is when his life took a turn, that would later define him.
Lauda was so badly injured in that accident at the 1976 German Grand Prix that a priest gave him the last rites as he lay in a coma.
His Ferrari had slammed into a barrier and then burst into flames as it spun back onto the track, where an oncoming car hit it again. By the time he was pulled from the wreckage, his face, scalp and right ear were severely burnt and his lungs scorched.
In Lauda's absence, Hunt became the favourite to win the title. However, it was then that Lauda displayed resiliance and grit that he will be remembered forever for.
Just six weeks later, his burns bandaged and raw, he was racing again, vying to retain his Formula One world title. It remains one of the sport's most memorable acts of courage and defiance.
In the comeback race, just six weeks after the crash at the Italian Grand Prix, Lauda finished fourth, with the champion racer ending the race soaked in blood through his unhealed wounds.
In the last race of the season in Japan, Lauda came in trailing three points behind Hunt. Unfortunately he wasn't able to finish the last race of the season, as he ended the year second overall to James Hunt in the World Championships.
Even before his crash his buck teeth earned him the nickname "The Rat", and he would later recall that his friend and rival James Hunt told him he looked better after the accident than before.
"It's finished. I live today and think of tomorrow. Take the experience," Lauda had said.
Lauda's life has been of great inspiration to many but his battle with health was not something new and it eventually took his life as well.
The inspirational comeback -
Niki Lauda will be remembered for arguably the most remarkable and courageous comeback in sport.
At the 1976 German Grand Prix, Lauda was trapped in a fireball inferno. He had swerved off track at the Nurburgring, hit the wall, his car caught on fire.
But just 40 days after he almost burnt to death at the wheel of his Ferrari, sustaining injuries so catastrophic he was read the last rites in hospital, Lauda returned to his Formula One cockpit.
"I got so upset because of this incident with the priest, that I put more effort into not dying," said Lauda, decades later.
The Rivalry of Niki Lauda and James Hunt
Lauda was so badly injured in that accident at the 1976 German Grand Prix that a priest gave him the last rites as he lay in a coma.
His Ferrari had slammed into a barrier and then burst into flames as it spun back onto the track, where an oncoming car hit it again. By the time he was pulled from the wreckage, his face, scalp and right ear were severely burnt and his lungs scorched.
In Lauda's absence, Hunt became the favourite to win the title. However, it was then that Lauda displayed resiliance and grit that he will be remembered forever for.
Just six weeks later, his burns bandaged and raw, he was racing again, vying to retain his Formula One world title. It remains one of the sport's most memorable acts of courage and defiance.
In the comeback race, just six weeks after the crash at the Italian Grand Prix, Lauda finished fourth, with the champion racer ending the race soaked in blood through his unhealed wounds.
In the last race of the season in Japan, Lauda came in trailing three points behind Hunt. Unfortunately he wasn't able to finish the last race of the season, as he ended the year second overall to James Hunt in the World Championships.
Even before his crash his buck teeth earned him the nickname "The Rat", and he would later recall that his friend and rival James Hunt told him he looked better after the accident than before.
"It's finished. I live today and think of tomorrow. Take the experience," Lauda had said.
Lauda's life has been of great inspiration to many but his battle with health was not something new and it eventually took his life as well.