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#4 Niki Lauda
His life has been chronicled in film, and he has been regarded as one of the most aggressive drivers of all time. Lauda would go on to win 3 world championships in his 8-year career - the first two of those with Ferrari, in only his 2nd year with the team in 1975.
He won 5 races with 8 podiums in all that year, and the following year missed out on the title by only a single point - this despite that year’s German Grand Prix being the scene of Lauda’s horrendous accident.
At the Nurburgring that year, Lauda had been fastest going into the race - but had repeatedly appealed against the safety arrangements at the circuit, which he had said were sorely lacking.
Most others disagreed with Lauda, and with them unwilling to boycott the race, it went on. Lauda’s Ferrari swerved off the track and crashed into an embankment, bursting into flames. The fire would burn Lauda’s head and scalp, also resulting in lung damage as Lauda inhaled noxious gases from the inferno.
Despite this, Lauda would return to race only 3 Grands Prix later - and Hunt’s own results would see him finish only 1 point ahead to take the championship. English motorsport journalism icon Nigel Roebuck recounted seeing Lauda peel bloodied bandages from his scalp following one race - an insight into just how courageous the Austrian legend was.
Battling through injuries, damaged facial nerves and limited mobility, Lauda raced one of the most consistent years any driver in Formula one has ever seen. He would take the championship mainly for this reason; although Mario Andretti had 4 wins to Lauda’s 3, the Austrian finished every race barring two in the points, of which all but 2 were podiums.
He is another driver considered to be among the greatest of all time. Although he took an early retirement from ‘79 - 82, Lauda came back forcefully to take a third world championship in 1984 before retiring from the sport completely the following year.
He is now non-executive chairman for double world championship-winning Mercedes AMG Petronas.
