One of the greatest F1 Champions has passed away. I was barely a teenager when he was a champion at Ferrari, and I was already a young adult when I watched him get his final championship at Estoril by half a point (that was 1984).
His driving was amazing to watch. There was a mix of great skill, great courage and a relentlessness in the pace that made him the undisputed champion of his era.
Lauda today is almost forgotten when F1 fans are asked to make their list of top F1 drivers ever. From the very old days Fangio always shows up, the British fans don't ever forget to mention Clark and Stewart, and then it is Senna, Prost and Schumacher (with the youngest fans trying to add Hamilton and Vettel, which I think might be fair on numbers alone).
But I suspect many years from now any historian of Formula 1 will find one name stands out after the Stewart/Fittipaldi years and before the Senna/Prost rivalry, and that name is Niki Lauda.
Rest in Peace
