Niki Lauda, who defied death so long in a life that elevated him to the status of motor racing legend, has finally succumbed to the crash that by all the laws of science should have killed him 43 years ago.
The Austrian, who won world titles in 1975, 1977 and 1984, died aged 70, eight months after lung transplant surgery that was the belated result of the German Grand Prix at which his Ferrari burst into flames.
It was at the Nurburgring that Lauda swerved off track, hit the embankment and sat trapped inside his car that had turned into a fireball. He lost the top of his left ear and his eyelids and breathed in the toxic fumes that finally did for his fighting spirit on Monday.
Niki Lauda has passed away aged 70 after, eight months after having lung transplant surgery
The surgery was a belated result of a crash in 1976 in which his Ferrari burst into flames
The Austrian, somewhat incredibly, added two more world titles after the harrowing incident
In the intervening years, Lauda wore the scars on a face that had only partially been restored by taking skin off his thighs and applying it to his scalp. The rest of the damage was hidden under a ubiquitous red cap on which he sold advertising space for a million pounds.
But a heaving cough that intermittently interrupted his fast flow of direct, never-a-wasted word conversation told of the problem that even the cosmetic surgeons could not fix. And last August he had lung surgery to put him right supposedly.
He had planned to be back at the track for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in late November last year but that target proved too ambitious for even such a battler as Lauda. He was well enough to post a video of himself, a little frail of voice but with a reassuring message for fans: I’m getting well.
Lauda, pictured with his wife Birgit, wore a ubiquitous red cap to cover the scars
Lauda (R) pictured in 1975, the year after he won his first drivers' championship
Lauda pictured during the Argentine Grand Prix in Buenos Aires in 1975
Just weeks after his horrific crash in 1976, Lauda was back behind the wheel of his Ferrari
The former driver sports the scars of his near-fatal crash during a press conference
It took tremendous will and courage for Lauda to get back behind the wheel
And, so he was, until flu struck while on a Christmas holiday in Ibiza. He was taken back to hospital. His progress since had been shaky, with Bernie Ecclestone, his former Brabham boss and close friend, kept in touch by telephone through the worrying months.
It is almost impossible to think of that giant defeated. After all, less than six weeks after being read the last rites following his incineration in Germany, he returned
