RIP Niki Lauda
I was fortunate enough to have caught a few glimpses of him at the 2017 Canada GP in his advisory role with Mercedes.
If anyone hasn't seen the movie
Rush about Lauda, it's well worth catching on Netflix. You don't need to be an F1 fan.
Niki Lauda, who has died aged 70, was a three-time Formula 1 world champion, non-executive chairman of the world champion Mercedes team, and one of the biggest names in motorsport.
He was also a pilot and successful businessman, who set up two airlines and continued to occasionally captain their planes into his late 60s.
But he will be remembered most for the remarkable bravery and resilience he showed in recovering from a fiery crash at the 1976 German Grand Prix at the fearsome Nurburgring.
Lauda - leading the World Championship, having won his first title a year earlier - suffered third-degree burns to his head and face that left him scarred for life, inhaled toxic gases that damaged his lungs, and received the last rites in hospital.
Yet he returned to racing just 40 days later - finishing fourth in the Italian Grand Prix. By the end of the race, his unhealed wounds had soaked his fireproof balaclava in blood. When he tried to remove the balaclava, he found it was stuck to his bandages, and had to resort to ripping it off in one go.
It was one of the bravest acts in the history of sport...
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/46781936