Chapter 1, 1973: “The car is shit”
Niki Laudathen 24 years old working for BRM, was chosen by Enzo Ferrari to team up with Clay Regazzoni from the 1974 season. The Austrian said in his autobiography My Story of 1985: “Already in the autumn of 1973 I was taken into force and introduced to Enzo Ferrari. Feces a couple of laps on the Fiorano test track, before giving my opinion to the big boss. At the time I didn't yet know Italian and Piero Lardi, Ferrari's son, acted as interpreter. […] What do you think of the car, Ferrari asks me, which addresses all its drivers on first terms. A trap, I tell him, but Lardi immediately interrupts me: this cannot be said. How can I not say that? The car understeers in a ridiculous way, you can't corner it, it's uncontrollable. No, says Piero, I cannot translate this”.
The watered down version ('a trap') published in Lauda's book hides the well-known phrase: “The car is shit”which went down in the annals as the first reaction of the future three-time Formula 1 champion on the Ferrari tested at Fiorano and also reported in the film Rush (“It's a shitbox“).
Lauda repeatedly underlined that he was the only one capable of addressing Enzo Ferrari in this way. In any case, 2 world titles together, seasoned with 15 victories, 23 pole positions and 32 podiums swept away any doubts. Despite a stormy epilogue, the story between the Austrian and Maranello worked great.
Chapter 2, 2014: “Ferrari made a shitty car”
Forty-one years later, history repeats itself. In a completely different context. This time – in 2014 – Niki Lauda is at Mercedes and his team is dominating the championship, while Maranello's F14T will go down in history as one of the least successful cars in the history of the Prancing Horse. On this occasion there is no hearsay, a story handed down to posterity by word of mouth. There is the paper singing, the Spanish newspaper El Pais. Perhaps to ingratiate himself with the local fans, Lauda said: “Ferrari made Alonso a shitty car“. Diplomatic incident upon us, Mercedes is quick to underline that those expressed by the president are “personal opinions“. Lauda remedies it, calls Montezemolo and apologizes, telling about “coming wide when braking“, without making excuses.
A year later, 2015, in an interview with Republic he didn't seem so remorseful: “I said it last season. AND I have no problem reiterating that. Now it's different“then dedicating a thought to the new president of the Red team: “I want Marchionne as an enemy, not as a friend. I'd rather fuck him, sportingly speaking, than run alongside him“. Three months pass, this time Lauda's words are hosted there Bild: “Instead of complaining they should make faster cars. It's certainly not Mercedes' fault At Ferrari they only know how to make spaghetti“. Certainly not a caress.
But Niki Lauda is the same champion who was buried in his Ferrari suit in May 2019: an unexpected turn of events, which closes a circle.
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