🇦🇹 Niki Lauda

Niki Lauda was an elite professional racing driver competing in Formula 1, a single-class international championship raced solo across 34 countries with fields mixing amateurs and professionals. He competed for McLaren across 173 starts from 1971 to 1985, driving across 13 seasons that included a hiatus from 1980 to 1981.[1]

Lauda won the Formula 1 World Drivers' Championship three times: in 1975 and 1977 with Ferrari, and in 1984 with McLaren. He took 25 wins and 54 podium finishes across his career, a podium record at the time of his retirement. His performances in 1985, his final season, yielded one win and one podium as he finished tenth in the championship standings. He remains the only driver to have won a World Drivers' Championship with both Ferrari and McLaren.[2]

Lauda raced regularly against established professionals of his era. He finished ahead of Alain Prost, a four-time champion who accumulated 202 Formula 1 starts, eight times across their shared seasons. He was closely matched with Jacques Laffite and John Watson, both established professionals who accumulated 177 and 152 Formula 1 starts respectively and featured regularly in the same grids.