Why Niki Lauda was considered the bravest man in sport

Formula One motor racing is the perennial, worldwide contest that most reliably gratifies hero-worshipping, power-worshipping, money-worshipping, technology-worshipping ghouls, and some others. The ghoulishness may be subconscious but it certainly seems to excite many spectators at every Grand Prix track, especially in foul weather, as drivers approach sharp turns flat out. If you heard of a Charles Addams figure standing in the rain on a verge of the M25, thrilled by the possibility of witnessing a devastating crash, you might consider him (or her) to be quite weird; but anyway, Formula One is universally popular, extensively televised and reported on asa respectable sport.

Maurice Hamilton is a veteran enthusiastic and loyal chronicler of Formula One — or F1 as it is called. He has attended more than 500 Grands Prix races, published more than 30 books on the subject and covered it for several London papers and BBC Radio 5. Now he presents F1’s complexities of heroics and commercialism through the biography of one of its first-magnitude stars. Niki Lauda, an Austrian, who died peacefully in his bed in May last year at the age of 70, won 25 Grand Prix, three F1 World Championships and a lot of money, and once very nearly killed himself in a spectacular racing accident.

Thanks to Hamilton’s friendship with all sorts of experts involved in F1 at high level, including Lauda himself, whom he knew well personally from the beginning of the legendary driver’s career, the author has been able to get a lot of his work done for him. The book consists largely of long statements about Lauda transcribed from interviews, historic and recent.

This unusual method may tempt future biographers to follow suit, easing their task by leaving a significant proportion of interpretation and synthesis to the reader.