Racing in Austria was dealt a hard blow when Jochen Rindt passed away in 1970. A year later, Niki Lauda brought light to the horizon. He made his debut at his home race and would later excel at Ferrari and McLaren. It led to three titles, after which he started working as a consultant at Mercedes. There he brought in Lewis Hamilton. Not a bad move, as it turns out. Partly for this, Mercedes now honors him.
The German car brand names the main street that runs through the F1 factory in Brackley after the Austrian driver. The road will be named Lauda Drive. Team boss Toto Wolff built a relationship with Lauda and is now happy to pay tribute: “It is a great honor to announce the Lauda Drive. It’s great to see so many team members come together for the reveal.”
Toto Wolff misses ‘one of his best friends’
Wolff continues: ‘While our friend and colleague Niki would have preferred not for us to make a fuss about it, he would have been proud to have this street named after him. It was an honor for all of us to work with him and I was lucky enough to call him one of my best friends.’
The team boss of the F1 team still misses his friend and confidant every day. “I wish he was still here, as a friend and as chairman, because there are so many questions I’ve wanted to ask him over the past year,” says Wolff. The street was previously known as Reynard Park, after the previous owner of the land in Brackley. The change has been approved by the municipality and Lauda’s family.
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