From pay driver to Ferrari
Niki Lauda joined the March F2 team in 1971, bringing with him a budget from an Austrian bank, was fast and promising, and was quickly promoted to the F1 team for a few Grand Prix. For the 1972 season, he was asked to drive in both categories for the works team.
Picture-above: Niki Lauda in the uncompetitive March 721X at the 1972 Monaco Grand Prix where he qualified at the back of the grid in 22nd, and finished the race in a distant 16th position…
The March F2 cars were competitive and the young Austrian impressed team boss Robin Herd with his driving skills and great comprehension of the car, but he was still supposed to bring sponsorship money for him to stay in the team.
F1 however was a disaster, the car just being too slow, and Niki couldn’t match his team-mate’s Ronnie Peterson pace who also also struggled with his uncompetitive car. By the end of the 1972 season, running out of money, Lauda decided to join BRM, bluffing his way into Louis Stanley’s team, promising a sponsor arrival that never was.
Fortunately, his performances were outstanding: he was quicker, most of the time, than his team mates Regazzoni and Beltoise, and was running in third at the Monaco Grand Prix for instance, before retiring with a broken gearbox, but Lauda had caught the attention of Enzo Ferrari. The rest is history.