The terrible accident at Nordschleife
On May 20, 2019 Niki Lauda, three-time world champion, died at the age of 70. The Austrian, still considered one of the greatest talents in F1 history, nevertheless had the chance to fulfill his last wish: to be buried in the Ferrari suit, the same one with which he won the titles in 1975 and 1977. Between the two, in 1976, Lauda was unable to reconfirm; not due to a crisis of competitiveness of his own or the Ferrari 312 T2, but because of a very serious accident that almost cost him his life. A violent impact against the barriers at the Nürburgring with a consequent fire, from which he miraculously escaped death. Since then, #1 began a convalescence that, surprisingly, brought him back on track even before the end of the season despite burns to his face, in an attempt to defend the world title. Today, exactly 50 years have passed since that terrible accident at Nordschleife.
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Lauda’s ‘memory’
On the eve of that race, as a testimony to the excellent season of the Ferrari driver up to that point, Lauda was leading the overall standings with a margin of 31 points over Jody Scheckter, who was in turn 4 points ahead of James Hunt’s McLaren. The 1976 German GP, by a terrible coincidence, was also the last to take place at Nordschleife, a circuit with an expiring FIA license and which instilled fear in many drivers, some of whom unfortunately lost their lives in serious accidents. Already on the second lap, the reigning world champion lost control of the car in a fast left-hand corner, crashing into a rock face. A collision worsened not only by the outbreak of fire and the loss of the helmet, but also by the impact with the approaching cars of Harald Ertl and Brett Lunger (who, together with Arturo Merzario, managed to pull the Austrian out of the cockpit), unable to avoid the Ferrari rebounding in the middle of the track after the accident.
A day that Lauda partially recalled in his book “My Story”, published after his retirement from racing in 1985: “The last memory I have of the race is the tire change, from rain tires to slicks, more slippery, and my departure from the pits. Then the screech of a hub. Then: I find myself in a bed, I am tired, I want to sleep, to know nothing more. Only on the fourth day was it certain that I would live; in fact, the lungs and blood had been seriously damaged by inhaling the fumes of burning gasoline. The burns themselves, on the face, head, and hands, were not life-threatening, which is why the scars today are more substantial.”
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The great fear
The health conditions were so serious that at the Mannheim hospital, specialized in burn treatment, the driver even received last rites. However, against all expectations, Lauda did everything possible to return as soon as possible inside the Ferrari cockpit, which happened at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza, just over a month after the serious injury and with a 12-point lead over Hunt in the standings. Even in those days, he seemed charged and ready not only to return to the track but also free of any fear: “It was a lie – he confessed in the book – but it would have been foolish to give my rivals a bulletin on the state of my weakness. At Monza I was stiff with fear“. A definitely difficult weekend psychologically for the Ferrari driver: “When I got in the car at Monza, fear attacked me with such vehemence that all theories about self-motivation went to hell; like when you are seized by colic, the heart beating, a desire to give up, a terrible thing.”
A fear that for Lauda became even more intense at the last world championship GP in Japan at the Fuji circuit, when the rain pushed the Austrian to voluntarily retire from the race, effectively ‘giving’ the title to James Hunt: “I was in barely bearable condition; in the middle of that downpour I was panicking, I couldn’t see anything anymore, I sat down curled up with stiff shoulders and had the feeling that at any second anyone could crash into me. Everyone was spinning or turning around, a terrible confusion. Given how things were, it was perfectly normal that I stopped at the pits and gave up.”
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