He started in Formula 1 between 1971 and 1985 and became world champion three times. As a 19-year-old - in his first race, the mountain race on April 15, 1968 in Bad Mühllacken - Lauda was second in a class with a Mini Cooper S 1300 right off the bat.

Lauda's first Formula 1 race was the Grand Prix of Austria on 15 August 1971 for March-Ford, where he failed. In 1972, Lauda bought a cockpit from March-Ford with a loan of Raiffeisenbank in the amount of two million Schilling.

Grand Prix of Germany on August 1, 1976 - amateur film footage of a French spectator reveals how the Ferrari 312T2 suddenly turns outward (ie to the right) after passing through the left-hand bend, which today is unofficially named after Lauda, bumping into a cliff face along the road and flies up in flames.