5 memorable moments of Niki Lauda in Formula 1

The greatest comeback in sporting history

Italian Grand Prix of 1976, where Niki clinched a P4

Well, for starters, there was nothing August about the ill-fated date in the heart of Western Europe in an era where drivers were as they are today, mortals but above anything else, less reliant on technology and more driven by "pure racing" as none other than Ayrton Senna himself put it.

Not for nothing is the Nurburgring in Germany called the "green hell!"

Just that back in the day, precisely on 1 August 1976, Niki Lauda proved that the thing that makes F1 drivers "immortal" is their ability to reward a slice of luck with nothing but pure resilience.

And heck, it was a crazy trick of luck that saved Niki Lauda, who would crash in the opening lap itself on a track where for the lack of a better expression, "racing was battling with death", given the undrivable conditions then.

Yet, which driver, despite having been engulfed in flames, with a semi burned face, with countless physical anomalies would have managed to return other than Niki Lauda?

And while not only did Niki do just that, he would go on to finish fourth at the 1976 Italian Grand Prix- amid shock and awe- something that only he would've managed.

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