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86-420: Kiesenhofer gained fame when she won the gold medal in the women's individual road race at the 2020 Summer Olympics , the first Summer Olympics gold medal for Austria since 2004 and their first cycling Olympic gold medal since 1896. Unfancied for a medal pre-race, she attacked in the first seconds of the event and soloed to victory, her pursuers mistakenly unaware of her position, in a win described as "one of

172-618: A £ 30,000 bank loan, secured by a life insurance policy, to buy his way into the fledgling March team as a Formula Two driver in 1971. Because of his family's disapproval, he had an ongoing feud with them over his racing ambitions and abandoned further contact. Lauda was quickly promoted to the Formula One team but drove for March in Formula One and Formula Two in 1972. Although the latter cars were good and Lauda's driving skills impressed March principal Robin Herd , March's 1972 Formula One season

258-553: A "polack" (an ethnic slur for Polish people) on air in May 2010 at the Monaco Grand Prix . Lauda is sometimes known by the nickname "the Rat", "SuperRat" or "King Rat" because of his prominent buck teeth . He was associated with both Parmalat and Viessmann , sponsoring the ever-present cap he wore from 1976 to hide the severe burns he sustained in his Nürburgring accident. Lauda said in

344-835: A 2009 interview with the German newspaper Die Zeit that an advertiser was paying €1.2 million for the space on his red cap. In 2005, the Austrian post office issued a stamp honouring him. In 2008, American sports television network ESPN ranked him 22nd on their "top drivers of all-time" list. Niki Lauda wrote five books: The Art and Science of Grand Prix Driving (titled Formula 1: The Art and Technicalities of Grand Prix Driving in some markets) (1975); My Years With Ferrari (1978); The New Formula One: A Turbo Age (1984); Meine Story (titled To Hell and Back in some markets) (1986); Das dritte Leben (en. The third life ) (1996). Lauda credited Austrian journalist Herbert Volker with editing

430-461: A Roman Catholic family. In an interview with Zeit he stated that he left the church for a time to avoid paying church taxes , but went back when he had his two children baptised. On 20 May 2019, Lauda died in his sleep aged 70 at the University Hospital of Zürich where he had been undergoing kidney dialysis . He had experienced a period of ill health exacerbated by his lung injuries from

516-619: A course starting at Musashinonomori Park in Tokyo and ending at the Fuji Speedway in Shizuoka Prefecture . 67 cyclists from 40 nations competed, with 48 completing the course. The race was won by rank outsider Anna Kiesenhofer of Austria . Kiesenhofer was part of the original breakaway, powering away at the very start of the race along with four other riders. She proceeded to drop her breakaway companions, all of whom were swallowed up by

602-707: A crash. He returned to racing just six weeks later at the Italian Grand Prix , but eventually lost the title to Hunt by one point. Lauda remained at Ferrari in 1977 , winning several races on his way to a second championship. Vacating his seat after clinching the title at the United States Grand Prix and replaced by Gilles Villeneuve , Lauda signed with Brabham in 1978 , achieving podiums in each of his race finishes that season despite struggling with poor reliability, and taking wins in Sweden and Italy . Amidst

688-559: A driver's negotiating position. The drivers, with the exception of Teo Fabi , barricaded themselves in a banqueting suite at Sunnyside Park Hotel until they had won the day. The 1983 season proved to be transitional for the McLaren team as they were making a change from Ford - Cosworth engines, to TAG -badged Porsche turbo engines, and Lauda did not win a race that year, with his best finish being second at Long Beach behind his teammate John Watson . Some political maneuvering by Lauda forced

774-515: A factory entry, Lauda won three races for P4 plus the series. Decades later, Lauda won a BMW Procar exhibition race event before the 2008 German Grand Prix . In September, Lauda finished fourth in Monza, and won the non-WC Imola event, still with the Alfa V12 engine. After that, Brabham returned to the familiar Cosworth V8. In late September, during practice for the 1979 Canadian Grand Prix , Lauda cut short

860-565: A fifth-place finish in the first four races, he won four of the next five driving the new Ferrari 312T . His first World Championship was confirmed with a third-place finish at the Italian Grand Prix at Monza ; Lauda's teammate Regazzoni won the race and Ferrari clinched their first Constructors' Championship in 11 years. Lauda then picked up a fifth win at the last race of the year, the United States GP at Watkins Glen . He also became

946-400: A fuel leak. Lauda was known for giving away any trophies he won to his local garage in exchange for his car to be washed and serviced. Unlike 1975 and despite tensions between Lauda and Montezemolo's successor, Daniele Audetto , Lauda dominated the start of the 1976 Formula One season , winning four of the first six races and finishing second in the other two. By the time of his fifth win of

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1032-587: A furious chief designer John Barnard to design an interim car earlier than expected to get the TAG-Porsche engine some much-needed race testing; Lauda nearly won the last race of the season in South Africa. Lauda won a third world championship in 1984 by half a point over teammate Alain Prost , due only to half points being awarded for the shortened 1984 Monaco Grand Prix . His Austrian Grand Prix victory that year

1118-423: A lead of a minute thirty at the foot of Mont Ventoux . On the ascent, Kiesenhofer joined her. She won the stage by almost four minutes over Flávia Oliveira and she took the lead in the overall standings. The next day, Flávia Oliveira escaped in turn and she took Kiesenhofer's pink jersey. She kept her second place in the overall standings until the end of the race. In July 2021, as Austria's sole representative in

1204-431: A lead of two minutes over Shapira and Plichta, almost four minutes over Labous, and more than four minutes over the peloton. At this point, Netherlands began to set a faster pace, bringing back Labous and closing in on Shapira and Plichta. With 4.5 kilometres (2.8 mi) left, both Shapira and Plichta were finally caught by the peloton; at this point, some of the riders, not having radios as is common in road cycling outside

1290-559: A meaningful contender to win a medal. Her solo victory was described as one of the biggest upsets in Olympics history. This was the 10th appearance of the event, which has been held at every Summer Olympics since 1984 . The reigning Olympic champion was Anna van der Breggen of the Netherlands. A National Olympic Committee (NOC) could enter up to four qualified cyclists in the women's individual road race. All quota places are assigned to

1376-431: A practice session and promptly informed team principal Ecclestone, that he wished to retire immediately, as he had no more desire to "continue the silliness of driving around in circles". Lauda, who in the meantime had founded Lauda Air, a charter airline, returned to Austria to run the company full-time. In 1982, Lauda returned to racing, for an unprecedented $ 3 million salary. After a successful test with McLaren ,

1462-466: A puncture at the Wippermann, 9 miles into the 10th lap and was passed by Carlos Reutemann , James Hunt , Tom Pryce and Jacques Laffite ; Lauda made it back to the pits with a damaged front wing and a destroyed left front tyre. The Ferrari pit changed the destroyed tyre and Lauda managed to make it to the podium in third behind Reutemann and Laffite after Hunt retired and Pryce had to slow down because of

1548-558: A record half-point . Lauda retired at the conclusion of the 1985 season—taking his final victory at the Dutch Grand Prix —having achieved 25 race wins, 24 pole positions, 24 fastest laps and 54 podiums in Formula One. He returned in an advisory role at Ferrari in 1993 , and was the team principal of Jaguar from 2001 to 2002 . From 2012 until his death, Lauda was the non-executive chairman and co-owner of Mercedes , winning six consecutive World Constructors' Championships with

1634-466: A record for the most pole positions in a season during the 1975 season, rarely matched his teammate in qualifying. Despite this, Lauda's championship win came in Portugal , when he had to start in eleventh place on the grid, while Prost qualified on the front row. Prost did everything he could, starting from second and winning his seventh race of the season, but Lauda's calculating drive (which included setting

1720-471: A single race win at the Dutch Grand Prix where he held off a fast-finishing Prost late in the race. This proved to be his last Grand Prix victory, as after announcing his impending retirement at the 1985 Austrian Grand Prix , he retired for good at the end of that season. Lauda's final Formula One Grand Prix drive was the inaugural Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide , South Australia . After qualifying 16th,

1806-532: A steady drive saw him leading by lap 53. However, the McLaren's ceramic brakes suffered on the street circuit and he crashed out of the lead at the end of the long Brabham Straight on lap 57 when his brakes finally failed. He was one of only two drivers in the race who had driven in the non-championship 1984 Australian Grand Prix , the other being 1982 World Champion Keke Rosberg , who won in Adelaide in 1985 and took Lauda's place at McLaren in 1986. Lauda's helmet

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1892-417: A winless 1979 season for Brabham alongside Nelson Piquet , Lauda left the team after the Italian Grand Prix , following their move to Ford Cosworth V8 engines. After a two-year hiatus, Lauda returned to Formula One with McLaren in 1982 , winning multiple races upon his return. After a winless 1983 campaign, Lauda was partnered by Alain Prost the following season , beating Prost to his third title by

1978-476: Is so far the only time an Austrian has won his home Grand Prix. Initially, Lauda did not want Prost to become his teammate, as he presented a much faster rival. However, during the two seasons together, they had a good relationship and Lauda later said that beating the talented Frenchman was a big motivator for him. The whole season continued to be dominated by Lauda and Prost, who won 12 of 16 races. Lauda won five races, while Prost won seven. However, Lauda, who set

2064-598: The Canadian and United States Grands Prix, Hunt stood only three points behind Lauda before the final race of the season, the Japanese Grand Prix . Lauda qualified third, one place behind Hunt, but on race day there was torrential rain, and Lauda retired after two laps. He later said that he felt it was unsafe to continue under these conditions, especially since his eyes were watering excessively because of his fire-damaged tear ducts and inability to blink. Hunt led much of

2150-452: The Fuji Speedway circuit in the Shizuoka prefecture. The women's road race was 137 kilometres (85 mi) long with a total elevation gain of 2,692 metres (8,832 ft). The first part of the men's and women's races were identical. The course first passed through the mostly flat outskirts of Tokyo's metropolitan area. After 40 kilometres (25 mi), the riders gradually climbed towards

2236-467: The Nürburgring , even though he was the fastest driver on that circuit at the time, Lauda urged his fellow drivers to boycott the race, largely because of the 23-kilometre (14 mi) circuit's safety arrangements, citing the organisers' lack of resources to properly manage such a huge circuit, including lack of fire marshals, fire and safety equipment and safety vehicles. Formula One was quite dangerous at

2322-564: The Spanish Grand Prix . After winning five Grands Prix in his 1975 campaign, Lauda won his maiden title, becoming the first Ferrari-powered World Champion in 11 years . Whilst leading the 1976 championship—amidst a fierce title battle with James Hunt —Lauda was seriously injured during the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring , suffering severe burns and other life-changing injuries as his Ferrari 312T2 caught on fire during

2408-530: The Spanish Grand Prix . Although Lauda became the season's pacesetter, achieving six consecutive pole positions , a mixture of inexperience and mechanical unreliability meant Lauda won only one more race that year, the Dutch GP . He finished fourth in the Drivers' Championship and demonstrated immense commitment to testing and improving the car. The 1975 Formula One season started slowly for Lauda; after no better than

2494-422: The École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and was part of a group researching nonlinear partial differential equations which arise in mathematical physics. Kiesenhofer has authored several scholarly journal articles including: Kiesenhofer participated in triathlon and duathlon from 2011 to 2013. After an injury, she had to limit her running and therefore concentrated on cycling from 2014. She joined

2580-473: The 137 km-long Olympic women's road race in Tokyo, Japan , she won the gold medal, crossing the finish line 75 seconds in front of Annemiek van Vleuten of the Netherlands. Kiesenhofer trained for the event without a coach or a professional team, and was not viewed as a contender to win a medal. In the race, she initiated a breakaway from the start, and was joined by four other competitors. With 86 km to go,

2666-428: The 1970s, culminating in a disastrous start to the 1973 season, Ferrari regrouped completely under Luca di Montezemolo and were resurgent in 1974 . The team's faith in the little-known Lauda was quickly rewarded by a second-place finish in his debut race for the team, the season-opening Argentine Grand Prix . His first Grand Prix (GP) victory – and the first for Ferrari since 1972 – followed only three races later in

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2752-495: The 1976 accident. He had a double lung transplant the previous year, and kidney transplants in 1997 and 2015. At the 2019 Monaco Grand Prix , current and former drivers and teams paid tributes on social media and during the pre-race Wednesday press conference. A moment of silence was held before the race. Throughout the weekend, fans and drivers wore red caps in his honour, with the Mercedes team painting their halo device red with

2838-615: The Catalan team Frigoríficos Costa Brava – Naturalium . In 2015, she participated in cyclo-sports, including the Gran Fondo New York, which ends at Mont Ventoux and won. She entered the Tour de l'Ardèche but she was the victim of a fall on the first stage. She failed to recover and after several difficult stages decided to withdraw. In 2016, she won the Coupe d'Espagne. In September, she took part in

2924-615: The Chilean-Austrian Marlene Knaus. They divorced in 1991. Lauda and Knaus had two sons, Mathias , a racing driver, and Lukas, who acted as Mathias's manager. In 1992 Lauda briefly dated racing driver Giovanna Amati . In 2008 he married Birgit Wetzinger, a flight attendant for his airline. In 2005, Wetzinger donated a kidney to Lauda after the kidney he had received from his brother in 1997 failed. In September 2009, Birgit gave birth to twins, Max and Mia. Lauda spoke fluent German , English and Italian . Lauda came from

3010-577: The Englishman retired with brake failure on lap 52. As Lauda had passed the Toleman of rookie Ayrton Senna for third place only a few laps earlier, Mansell's retirement elevated him to second behind Prost. Lauda had signed an initial letter of intent to leave McLaren team and join Renault for the 1985 season . The agreement was not implemented and Lauda stayed with McLaren for the 1985 season. The 1985 season

3096-590: The NOC, which may select the cyclists that compete. There were 67 total quota spots available for the race. The assignments of spots to NOCs was a multi-stage process: The road race was a mass-start, one-day road race event. The courses for the men's and women's road races were revealed in August 2018. The women's race started at Musashinonomori Park in Chōfu , western Tokyo, at 13:00  Japan Standard Time ( UTC+9 ) and finished at

3182-413: The Olympics, thought that all the breakaway riders had been caught, when in reality Kiesenhofer was still leading by three minutes. 2.1 kilometres (1.3 mi) from the finish, van Vleuten attacked from the peloton, with Elisa Longo Borghini (Italy) going after her. However, van Vleuten continued to maintain her gap over Longo Borghini while up front, but not catching the lone leader. Kiesenhofer soloed to

3268-479: The Tour de l'Ardèche in the international team. On the third stage, the first breakaway started at the 12th kilometer. It was composed of Dani Christmas , Anna Plichta , Sara Olsson , Vita Heine and Silvia Valsecchi . Twenty kilometers away, they were joined by Kiesenhofer. In the descent of the pass of Murs, the groups were seven minutes and twenty-five seconds ahead. After Blavac, Anna Plichta went off alone and she had

3354-518: The Year) by Sports Media Austria, an association of sports journalists. That year she was also named Lower Austria 's sportswoman of the year and won the international success category at Die Presse ' s Austrian of the Year awards. Cycling at the 2020 Summer Olympics %E2%80%93 Women%27s individual road race The women's individual road race event at the 2020 Summer Olympics was held on 25 July 2021 on

3440-516: The biggest win of her career, winning the gold medal. Van Vleuten went on to take the silver medal. She celebrated as she crossed the line, thinking that she won the gold medal. There was controversy afterward because during the race, without radio communication, the organisation had not informed riders properly that Kiesenhofer was in the lead, or by how far. Longo Borghini held on to take the bronze medal. Niki Lauda Andreas Nikolaus " Niki " Lauda (22 February 1949 – 20 May 2019)

3526-418: The books. The 1976 battle between Lauda and James Hunt was dramatized in the film Rush (2013), where Lauda was played by Daniel Brühl —a portrayal that was nominated for a BAFTA Film Award for Best Supporting Actor. Lauda made a cameo appearance at the end of the film. Lauda said of Hunt's death, "When I heard he'd died age 45 of a heart attack I wasn't surprised, I was just sad." He also said that Hunt

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3612-403: The breakaway riders had been caught and that she had won gold. The bronze medal went to Elisa Longo Borghini of Italy , after unsuccessfully attempting to bridge up to van Vleuten's attack and holding off the peloton. The Olympic road races are unusual in the modern professional circuit in the complete absence of team radios, an anomaly which, together with Kiesenhofer's relative anonymity in

3698-413: The burns to his head, losing most of his right ear as well as the hair on the right side of his head, his eyebrows, and his eyelids. He chose to limit reconstructive surgery to replacing the eyelids and restoring their functionality. After the accident he always wore a cap to cover the scars on his head. He arranged for sponsors to use the cap for advertising. With Lauda out of the contest, Carlos Reutemann

3784-497: The car 9 out of 14 races. Lauda's best results, apart from the wins in Sweden and Italy after the penalization of Mario Andretti and Gilles Villeneuve, were second in Monaco and Great Britain, and a third in the Netherlands. The Alfa flat-12 engine was too wide for ground effect designs in that the opposed cylinder banks impeded with the venturi tunnels, so Alfa designed a V12 for 1979. It was

3870-522: The car, but one was Arturo Merzario, the Italian guy, who also had to stop there at the scene, because I blocked the road; and he really came into the car himself, and uh, triggered my, my seatbelt loose, and then pulled me out. It was unbelievable, how he could do that, and I met him afterwards, and I said, 'How could you do it?!'. He said, 'Honestly, I do not know, but to open your seatbelt was so difficult, because you were pushing so hard against it, and when it

3956-638: The company LaudaMotion . As a result of Air Berlin's insolvency in 2017, LaudaMotion took over the Niki brand and asset after an unsuccessful bid by Lufthansa and IAG. Lauda held an airline transport pilot's licence and from time to time acted as a captain on the flights of his airline. He was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1993 and from 1996 provided commentary on Grands Prix for Austrian and German television on RTL . He was, however, criticized for calling Robert Kubica

4042-549: The descent from the Kagosaka Pass while the peloton was a further minute in arrears. As Kiesenhofer ended the descent, she still held a lead of four and a half minutes over the peloton. A few moments later, Juliette Labous (France) attacked from the peloton and gained a lead of around 20 seconds. Kiesenhofer soon passed through the finish line at the Fuji Speedway for the first time with 17 kilometres (11 mi) to go, holding

4128-548: The end of 2002. In September 2012, he was appointed non-executive chairman of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport . He took part in negotiations to sign Lewis Hamilton to a three-year deal with Mercedes in 2013. He remained at Mercedes until his death in 2019, winning six World Constructors' Championships with the team. Lauda returned to running his airline, Lauda Air , on his second Formula One retirement in 1985. During his time as airline manager, he

4214-423: The fallen rider and went head over, both bicycles becoming entangled. Both riders eventually got back up. With around 61 kilometres (38 mi) to go, Demi Vollering (Netherlands) attacked from the peloton, sparking a flurry of attacks. However, all the moves were eventually covered while the break still enjoyed a lead of around eight and a half minutes. On the climb to Doushi Road, the lead began to come down as

4300-411: The fan car's legality and Brabham team owner Bernie Ecclestone , who at the time was maneuvering for acquisition of Formula One's commercial rights, did not want to fight a protracted battle over the car, but the victory in Sweden remained official. The Brabham BT46 Alfa Romeo flat-12 began the 1978 season at the third race in South Africa. It suffered from a variety of troubles that forced Lauda to retire

4386-404: The fastest race lap), passing car after car, saw him finish second behind his teammate which gave him enough points to win his third title. His second place was a lucky one though as Nigel Mansell was in second for much of the race. However, as it was his last race with Lotus before joining Williams in 1985, Lotus boss Peter Warr refused to give Mansell the brakes he wanted for his car and

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4472-642: The first driver to lap the Nürburgring Nordschleife in under seven minutes, which was considered a huge feat as the Nordschleife section of the Nürburgring was two miles longer than it is today. Lauda did not win the German Grand Prix from pole position there that year; after battling hard with Patrick Depailler for the lead for the first half of the race, Lauda led for the first 9 laps but suffered

4558-472: The foot of the climb to Doushi Road, a 5.9-kilometre (3.7 mi) climb with an average gradient of 5.7 percent. The climb topped out after 80 kilometres (50 mi) of racing at an altitude of 1,121 metres (3,678 ft) above sea level. After reaching Lake Yamanakako in Yamanashi and crossing the Kagosaka Pass, the riders faced a 15-kilometre (9.3 mi) descent and from here, the courses were different for

4644-529: The fourth 12-cylinder engine design that propelled the Austrian in Formula One since 1973. Lauda's 1979 Formula One season was again marred by retirements and poor pace, even though he won the non-championship 1979 Dino Ferrari Grand Prix with the Brabham-Alfa. In the single-make BMW M1 Procar Championship , driving for the British Formula Two team Project Four Racing (led by Ron Dennis ) when not in

4730-439: The front but they were caught by the peloton. The break was considered unthreatening, and was allowed to build a maximum advantage of around 11 minutes over the favourites before the gap was stabilized. As the road began to go uphill, Looser struggled to follow the pace in the break and she began to drop back. With 88 kilometres (55 mi) to go, Oberholzer also lost contact with her breakaway companions as three riders were left at

4816-452: The front. The trio up front managed to maintain their gap over the peloton as no teams were willing to take up the chase behind, leaning on the extremely strong Netherlands team who likewise failed to pursue. As the peloton neared the foot of the climb to Doushi Road, Emma Norsgaard Jørgensen (Denmark)'s wheel aligned with an expansion joint in the road causing her to lose control and crash. Annemiek van Vleuten (Netherlands) could not evade

4902-518: The gold, finished the race unaware that Kiesenhofer was still in front of them. Kiesenhofer later said she "couldn't believe" she won adding that she would have been happy with a top 25 finish. After racing as a privateer in 2022, Kiesenhofer joined the Israel Premier Tech Roland team for the 2023 season. Kiesenhofer was awarded the Niki prize as Sportlerin des Jahres 2021 (Sportswoman of

4988-528: The greatest upsets in Olympics and cycling history". Kiesenhofer studied mathematics at the Vienna University of Technology (2008–11), completing her Master 's degree at Emmanuel College, Cambridge (2011–12). She earned her PhD at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia with her thesis on Integrable systems on b- symplectic manifolds in 2016. Kiesenhofer was a postdoctoral researcher at

5074-403: The leading group, now down to Kiesenhofer, Omer Shapira , and Anna Plichta , formed a 10-minute advantage over the chasing peloton . Kiesenhofer broke away by herself for the final 41 km while climbing the Kagosaka Pass, dropping Shapira and Plichta, who were later caught by the peloton. Many in the peloton, including silver medalist Van Vleuten who celebrated mistakenly thinking she had won

5160-627: The men's and women's races. Following the descent, the women's race made their way towards the Fuji Speedway circuit, bypassing the climbs of Fuji Sanroku and the Mikuni Pass. The riders contested one and a half laps of the undulating track before crowning the winner at the Fuji Speedway. Nations: As soon as the racing started, Anna Kiesenhofer (Austria) attacked from the peloton. She was soon joined by Carla Oberholzer ( South Africa ), Vera Looser ( Namibia ), Omer Shapira ( Israel ), and Anna Plichta (Poland). Several riders attempted to bridge to

5246-851: The message "Niki we miss you" instead of their usual silver scheme. The Haas VF-19 's shark fin engine cover was painted red with Lauda's name and the years of his birth and death. Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel wore helmets in Lauda's honour, and when Hamilton won the race he dedicated it to Lauda. His funeral at St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna was attended by prominent Formula One figures, including Gerhard Berger , Jackie Stewart , Alain Prost , Nelson Piquet , Jean Alesi , Lewis Hamilton , David Coulthard , Nico Rosberg , Valtteri Bottas , René and Hans Binder and René Rast . Arnold Schwarzenegger and Austrian politicians, including Alexander Van der Bellen , also attended. According to Lauda's wishes he

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5332-588: The only problem was to convince then team sponsor Marlboro that he was still capable of winning. Lauda proved he was when, in his third race back, he won the Long Beach Grand Prix . Before the opening race of the season at Kyalami race track in South Africa , Lauda was the organiser of the so-called "drivers' strike"; Lauda had seen that the new Super Licence required the drivers to commit themselves to their present teams and realised that this could hinder

5418-560: The pace in the peloton started to shed riders out the back. Around 51 kilometres (32 mi) from the finish, van Vleuten made another attack, this time building a gap over the peloton. At this point, the gap to the break up front still stood at around five and a half minutes. Van Vleuten managed to increase her lead to a minute over the peloton while up front, on the Kagosaka Pass, Kiesenhofer dropped Shapira and Plichta, going solo with 41 kilometres (25 mi) still left to race. Kiesenhofer maintained her five-minute advantage over van Vleuten on

5504-400: The peloton, factored heavily into the shock outcome of the 2021 race. Approaching the line, the peloton appeared unaware that the unheralded Kiesenhofer had been one of the escapees, had stayed off the front and finished the race substantially ahead of them. Kiesenhofer's win was considered a huge upset; she had trained for the event without a coach or a professional team, and was not viewed as

5590-470: The peloton, soloing off the front at the Kagosaka Pass with 41 kilometres (25 mi) to go and holding off the late chase from the pack. She won by 1' 15" over the silver medalist, Annemiek van Vleuten of the Netherlands . Van Vleuten made a late attack with 2.1 kilometres (1.3 mi) to go, distancing the remnants of the peloton. She celebrated after crossing the line, having mistakenly thought that all

5676-484: The pits, peeling the blood-soaked bandages off his scarred scalp. He also had to wear a specially adapted crash helmet so as not to be in too much discomfort. In Lauda's absence, Hunt had mounted a late charge to reduce Lauda's lead in the World Championship standings. Hunt and Lauda were friends away from the circuit, and their personal on-track rivalry, while intense, was cleanly contested and fair. Following wins in

5762-558: The race before his tyres blistered and a pit stop dropped him down the order. He recovered to third, thus winning the title by a single point. Lauda's previously good relationship with Ferrari was severely affected by his decision to withdraw from the Japanese Grand Prix, and he endured a difficult 1977 season , despite easily winning the championship through consistency rather than outright pace. Lauda disliked his new teammate, Reutemann, who had served as his replacement driver. Lauda

5848-528: The season with a non-classified championship finish, despite winning the British Formula Two Championship . Lauda moved to BRM for the 1973 season, scoring his maiden points finish in Belgium and earning a seat with Ferrari the following year alongside Clay Regazzoni . Lauda was immediately successful at Ferrari, taking his maiden podium on debut and his maiden win three races later at

5934-487: The team from 2014 to 2019 . Outside of Formula One, Lauda won the Nürburgring 24 Hours in 1973 with Alpina , and the BMW M1 Procar Championship in 1979 with Project Four . In aviation, Lauda founded and managed three airlines: Lauda Air from 1985 to 1999, Niki from 2003 to 2011, and Lauda from 2016 onwards. Lauda was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1993. Niki Lauda

6020-520: The time (three of the drivers that day later died in Formula One incidents: Tom Pryce in 1977; Ronnie Peterson in 1978; and Patrick Depailler in 1980), but a majority of the drivers voted against the boycott and the race went ahead. On 1 August 1976, during the second lap at the very fast left kink before Bergwerk, Lauda was involved in an accident where his Ferrari swerved off the track, hit an embankment, burst into flames, and made contact with Brett Lunger 's Surtees - Ford car. Unlike Lunger, Lauda

6106-507: The top. From 1983 to 1985, the red and white were reversed to evoke memories of his earlier helmet design. In 1993, Lauda returned to Formula One in a managerial position when Luca di Montezemolo offered him a consulting role at Ferrari . Halfway through the 2001 season, Lauda assumed the role of team principal of the Jaguar Formula One team. The team failed to improve and Lauda was made redundant, together with 70 other key figures, at

6192-659: The unknown Gilles Villeneuve in a third car at the Canadian Grand Prix . Joining Parmalat-sponsored Brabham - Alfa Romeo in 1978 for a $ 1 million salary, Lauda endured two unsuccessful seasons, remembered mainly for his one race in the Brabham BT46 B, a radical design known as the Fan Car: it won its first and only race at the Swedish GP, but Brabham did not use the car in Formula One again; other teams vigorously protested

6278-480: The year at the British GP , he had more than double the points of his closest challengers Jody Scheckter and James Hunt , and a second consecutive World Championship appeared a formality. It was a feat not achieved since Jack Brabham 's victories in 1959 and 1960 . He also looked set to win the most races in a season, a record held by the late Jim Clark since 1963 . A week before the 1976 German Grand Prix at

6364-589: Was a disappointment for Lauda, with eleven retirements from the fourteen races he started. He did not start the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps after crashing and breaking his wrist during practice, and he later missed the European Grand Prix at Brands Hatch ; John Watson replaced him for that race. He did manage fourth at the San Marino Grand Prix , 5th at the German Grand Prix , and

6450-599: Was an Austrian racing driver , motorsport executive and aviation entrepreneur, who competed in Formula One from 1971 to 1979 and from 1982 to 1985 . Lauda won three Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles and—at the time of his retirement—held the record for most podium finishes (54); he remains the only driver to have won a World Drivers' Championship with both Ferrari and McLaren , and won 25 Grands Prix across 13 seasons. Born and raised in Vienna , Lauda

6536-449: Was appointed consultant at Ferrari as part of an effort by Montezemolo to rejuvenate the team. After selling his Lauda Air shares to majority partner Austrian Airlines in 1999, he managed the Jaguar Formula One racing team from 2001 to 2002. In late 2003, he started a new airline, Niki . Similar to Lauda Air, Niki was merged with its major partner Air Berlin in 2011. In early 2016, Lauda took over chartered airline Amira Air and renamed

6622-570: Was born on 22 February 1949 in Vienna , Austria, to a wealthy paper manufacturing family. His paternal grandfather was the Viennese-born industrialist Hans Lauda . Lauda became a racing driver despite his family's disapproval. After starting out with a Mini , Lauda moved on into Formula Vee , as was normal in Central Europe , but rapidly moved up to drive in private Porsche and Chevron sports cars. With his career stalled, he took out

6708-579: Was catastrophic. Perhaps the lowest point of the team's season came at the Canadian Grand Prix at Mosport Park , where both March cars were disqualified within three laps of each other, just past three-quarters of the race distance. Lauda took out another bank loan to buy his way into the BRM team in 1973. Lauda was instantly quick, but the team was in decline; although the BRM P160E was fast and easy to drive it

6794-411: Was not comfortable with this move and felt he had been let down by Ferrari. "We never could stand each other, and instead of taking pressure off me, they put on even more by bringing Carlos Reutemann into the team." Having announced his decision to quit Ferrari at season's end, Lauda left earlier after he won the Drivers' Championship at the United States Grand Prix because of the team's decision to run

6880-683: Was not reliable and its engine lacked power. Lauda's popularity was on the rise after he was running third at the Monaco Grand Prix that year before a gearbox failure ended his race prematurely, resulting in Enzo Ferrari becoming interested. When his BRM teammate Clay Regazzoni left to rejoin Ferrari in 1974, team owner Enzo Ferrari asked him what he thought of Lauda. Regazzoni spoke so favorably of Lauda that Ferrari promptly signed him, paying him enough to clear his debts. After an unsuccessful start to

6966-466: Was one of the very few he liked, one of a smaller number of people he respected and the only person he had envied. Lauda appeared in an episode of Mayday titled " Niki Lauda: Testing the Limits " regarding the events of Lauda Air Flight 004 , and described running an airline as more difficult than winning three Formula 1 championships. Lauda dated Mariella von Reininghaus until 1975. In 1976 he married

7052-449: Was open, I got you out of the car like a feather...'. As Lauda was wearing a modified helmet, it did not fit him properly; the foam had compressed and it slid off his head after the accident, leaving his face exposed to the fire. Although Lauda was conscious and able to stand immediately after the accident, he later lapsed into a coma. While in hospital he was given the last rites , but he survived. Lauda suffered extensive scarring from

7138-523: Was originally painted plain red with his full name written on both sides and the Raiffeisen Bank logo in the chin area. He wore a modified AGV helmet in the weeks following his Nürburgring accident so as the lining would not aggravate his burned scalp too badly. In 1982, upon his return to McLaren, his helmet was white and featured the red "L" logo of Lauda Air instead of his name on both sides, complete with branding from his personal sponsor Parmalat on

7224-676: Was taken on as his replacement. Ferrari boycotted the Austrian Grand Prix in protest at what they saw as preferential treatment shown towards McLaren driver James Hunt at the Spanish and British Grands Prix. Lauda missed only two races, appearing at the Monza press conference six weeks after the accident with his fresh burns still bandaged. He finished fourth in the Italian GP , despite being, by his own admission, absolutely petrified. Formula One journalist Nigel Roebuck recalls seeing Lauda in

7310-481: Was the grandson of local industrialist Hans Lauda . Starting his career in karting , he progressed to Formula Vee and privateer racing in the late 1960s. With his career stalled, Lauda took out a £ 30,000 bank loan and secured a place in European Formula Two with March in 1971 , making his Formula One debut with the team at the Austrian Grand Prix . He was promoted to a full-time seat in 1972 , ending

7396-425: Was trapped in the wreckage. Drivers Arturo Merzario , Lunger, Guy Edwards , and Harald Ertl arrived at the scene a few moments later, but before Merzario was able to pull him from his car, Lauda suffered severe burns to his head and hands and inhaled hot toxic gases that damaged his lungs and blood. In an interview with BBC Radio 5 Live, Lauda said: There were basically two or three drivers trying to get me out of

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