5 successful F1 drivers you never knew started as pay drivers

#4 Niki Lauda

His name has now become tantamount with bravery and stubbornness and quite rightly so due to the sheer will and determination with which he fought the 1976 Championship even after sustaining near fatal injuries.

During his career, Niki Lauda made his name as a calculative and precise driver whose approach led him to clinch three world titles, two of them with Ferrari and another with McLaren after making a comeback to the sport in the early 1980s.

Before achieving such monumental success, Lauda had been struggling to get into F1 in the 1970s. In 1972, he finally took a £30,000 bank loan and essentially bought his way into the newcomer March team.

To move further up the ranks, he took another loan to join BRM team, where he was paired alongside Clay Regazzoni. Later, when Regazzoni left the team for Ferrari, it was he who convinced Enzo Ferrari to sign Lauda with the team, thus paving the way for what turned out to be a stellar career.