#274 1976 German Grand Prix

Lauda's clinical situation - as stated in the declarations released by Professor Peter - is serious, only for the possible complications caused by the incandescent toxic vapours (burnt oil, carbon monoxide, gases derived from the combustion of the car). The World Champion breathed this terrible mixture in the forty seconds he was trapped in the fire of the Ferrari, while Arturo Merzario, Brett, Lunger, Harald Hertl and Guy Edwards carried out their brave and splendid rescue operation. The prognosis will not be able to be dissolved before a few days, but a positive factor is Lauda's will to live, and the cooperation he is offering the doctors.

"On the occasion of that stupid tractor accident I saw how much strength Niki has. Here things are different, much more serious, but he can still make it".

Meanwhile, Daniele Audetto, Ferrari's sporting director, reconstructs some moments after the accident.

"I arrived in the Adenau hospital a few minutes after the arrival of the ambulance carrying Niki. I asked to see him. He recognized me immediately and begged me to call Marlene. With the German doctors, we studied a list of hospitals that specialises in treating burns or fractures. The head physician in Adenau, after X-ray checks, recommended the clinic in Ludwigshafen, which is excellent for treating burn victims. At the time it was thought that Lauda's main problem was burns. But in Ludwigshafen, where Niki was taken by helicopter, they noticed the lung lesions and the immediate transfer to Mannheim was arranged".

While Audetto rushes to Adenau, after a brief stop in the Ferrari garages at the Nürburgring, to Ludwigshafen and then to Mannheim following Lauda, Marlene lives terrible hours.

"I had an appointment with Niki at the Cologne airport. I had come to pick him up with his aircraft and our usual pilot, Hans Kemetinger. We were to return home immediately, to Salzburg. On the small bus that was taking us to the police and customs offices, after landing we learned from the driver that a rider had been seriously injured in the German Grand Prix. The policemen told me almost immediately that it was Niki".

Marlene recounts that she had telephoned the circuit, before getting back on the plane and flying to Mannheim. From here, by car, she rushed to the Ludwigshafen clinic, from where she was sent back to Mannheim to the Städtische Krankenanstalten. Marlene, a former model who married Lauda on March 11, right after the South African Grand Prix, does not like motor racing and what surrounds them, but respects her husband's business.

"If they're good enough for Niki, they're good enough for me".

In Mannheim, Marlene, who in the evening will be joined by her in-laws and brother-in-law, together with Audetto and the chief mechanic of the Austrian driver, Ermanno Cuoghi, spend endless hours while doctors scramble around the Ferrari ace.

"Niki is given a special machine every half hour that helps him breathe and cleans his lungs. To me the doctors have said that if Niki gets through the next two or three days without complications, within a month and a half or two he could be recovered".

To those who ask him for a comment on the fate of the world championship, Audetto replies:

"In these hours I haven't really thought about racing and the events of the title challenge. Now I say that I have high hopes in Niki's ability to recover. He's in the hands of skilled doctors, he's in a very well equipped clinic. The day after tomorrow I will go to London, where our appeal on the Brands Hatch events will be discussed. It would be wonderful if Lauda was assigned the first place and if Niki could take advantage of it".

In the meantime, on Monday, August 2, 1976 Merzario arrives in Bellaria, after a tiring trip on the freeway, with interminable queues, to enjoy a little vacation - very little - together with his wife Anna and his two children, Ugo, eleven years old, and Claudia, eight, when, intercepted by the newspaper La Stampa, he recounts the moments that involved him in the rescue of Niki Lauda:

"What does it feel like? So many sensations that come together, overlapping. All in less than a minute, which never seems to end. First the fear that it's all for nothing, that it's all useless. Then hope, which gives strength. Then despair, because we can't open those damn belts, we can't free Niki who is a mask of blood, I don't even have the courage to look him in the face. And then again the fear, he's on a stretcher and I have the feeling that maybe he won't be able to get out of it, in this state".

But for himself, wasn't he afraid?

"They say we're cynical. They've stuck a pretty good label on us. In those moments you only think about saving a friend, helping him: maybe you think that one day it could happen to you, but it's a thought you quickly banish. Fear for myself? No, I didn’t. Anger, this yes: because it could all be useless, I have already said".

Merzario is still shaken: now he's on the beach, but twenty-four hours before he was struggling with the flames and cursing those seat belts that just did not want to open. Can he reconstruct the accident?

"I can't, I didn't see it, I arrived a few seconds later. I realise that Lauda's car is on fire, I immediately decide to stop, I jump out of my car and try to give some help. There is a marshal with a fire extinguisher, but he looks scared, he keeps his distance and then Ertl snatches it from his hand. In the meantime Lunger, Edwards and I try to unfasten the safety belts that tie Niki to the seat, but everything is immediately, unfortunately, more difficult than expected. They are moments of anguish".

And then?

"The belts don't release, the car burns, Lauda can't move, but he screams. Very long, terrible moments. Niki's cheekbone throws blood on my suit, the Austrian's face and hair are burnt. Finally we manage to get him out of the car, we lay him on the grass, waiting for the ambulance. Niki is full of blood, it's amazing to watch. But he is not unconscious. He is awake, perfectly lucid. He asks me how his face looks. What should I say to him? I should tell him that I can't see him. His face? I try to reassure him, I tell him a few sentences, but maybe by looking into my eyes Niki understands that I lied. The ambulance comes, they take him away, I think I just don't know if he's going to be safe. And then I get a knot in my throat. Without our help Niki would almost certainly be burned. No, we're not cynical, we're not robots: we're men like any other. It's just that we risk our lives more than others, and we know it".

Were the rescues quick?

"The rescues? There were not at all, we can say. The ambulance took a long time to arrive, but the rescue vehicles arrived when she was already gone. On the other hand, you have to consider this: the circuit is twenty-two kilometres long, it's impossible to put that much personnel. It was Niki's turn, it could have been any of us. I still have his face in my eyes: terrible".

Afterwards, while on August 3, 1976 Audetto and Cuoghi leave for Maranello, Lauda's family members move from the hotel, where they live retired, to the hospital. Another day has gone by, and for more than forty hours Niki Lauda has been fighting in the Städtische Krankenanstalten in Mannheim, where he is hospitalised after the dramatic accident in the German Grand Prix. His condition is on the whole stationary. Reports Florian, Lauda's brother:

"Tonight Niki's breathing became laboured, but this is an expected event. They also took some X-rays to examine his lungs".

In the aseptic room where he is housed, Lauda is kept under close and continuous surveillance by a specialist, where he spends a peaceful night. But it is an uncertain balance, one that could also break down at any moment, tragically. Lauda is threatened by a very serious danger: the burning gases breathed in the fire of the Ferrari have contaminated his lungs and the medical team of the institute of anaesthesia and resuscitation that treats him fears the possible development of an infection, because this would spread immediately to the blood, with lethal consequences. Professor Horst Lutz was on vacation in Taormina before being called back to Mannheim to look after Lauda. Lutz, who loves motor racing and is a personal admirer of Niki, makes the point of the situation.

"The case of the Austrian driver is very serious and dangerous. When Lauda arrived here from Ludwigshafen he was in a desperate condition. There was then a slight improvement, but for now we can't really say anything. The critical phase is yet to come. Within three days, a pulmonary infection could occur. In seventy-two hours, we will take samples with a probe to ascertain the condition of the lungs. Then, and only then, I believe it will be possible to determine whether the patient will be saved. If Lauda gets through this period without any problems, he can be fully recovered not only as a man but also as a driver. He will have a very normal life and I don't see why he cannot, if he wants to, resume driving a Formula 1 car. The fracture to the cheekbone is a trifle and the burns do not worry at all. It will be, at most, a matter of plastic surgery, and not serious ones".

Professor Lutz also gives some explanations about the treatments the World Champion is currently undergoing.

"Lauda is in an aseptic room. We have introduced two probes into his throat. We help him with enriched oxygen and, at intervals, intervene with an artificial respiration machine. He is not blindfolded and is free to make any movement. Tomorrow morning, if necessary, we will sit him up in bed. He is a patient who reacts in a very positive way: he is very lucid and goes along with us magnificently".

Professor Lutz's department is located in a modern wing of the old but efficient Städtische Krankenanstalten. To access the special room where Lauda is hospitalised, doctors and nurses must change clothes twice. It is a ritual to which Marlene also submits, and twice a day she spends a few minutes at her husband's side. The Ferrari champion's wife takes strength and faces these terrible hours with dignified firmness.

"Niki is an exceptional man. Before we got married he had prepared me for a test like this. He had explained to me the dangers that a driver has to face and asked me, if anything ever happened, to keep calm and not to be scared".

Marlene then adds some touching details about her visits with her husband.

"When I walk into the antiseptic room, he smiles. He can't speak, but I can tell he's happy to see me. He explains himself in gestures, waving his hands. He often asks me the time, I don't know why. He has made me realise he is hungry and that he wants to eat something solid".

Niki is fed by means of IVs containing amino acids and glucose; as she recounts the episode, Marlene's face lights up. Around her neck, on a gold chain, is her husband's wedding ring, which she touches nervously from time to time.

"Niki is really a fabulous guy. Right now he's taking an interest in the room he's in, how the various medical equipment works. He's always trying to delve into everything. When he was a kid he took his father's Volkswagen apart to see how it was built inside. God willing that in a few days he could do the same thing here".

For Marlene, the future is measured in hours; every minute passed is a step forward, perhaps towards salvation. However, she is already thinking about after Mannheim, about when she can return to Salzburg with her Niki.

"I will ask him and beg him not to run anymore, to stop this very dangerous activity. We don't have financial problems, he doesn't have to go down the track for the money. I know that Niki has chosen to be a driver also to realise himself, to respond to something he felt inside himself, but I really hope he will give up, that he will satisfy me".

Marlene's in-laws and brother-in-law are always with her, and a sister has been added to them, while the switchboard is constantly receiving phone calls from all over the world, all with just one question: how is Niki? In this regard, Professor Horst Lutz, director of the institute of anaesthesia and resuscitation at the hospital, says:

"In recent years we have had cases similar to Lauda's, but not as serious, let alone as dangerous for the patient. But we have never had a person with the physical and psychological characteristics of the Austrian driver. I used to be an admirer of his in racing and I'm becoming one now because of his capacity for resistance. We are giving him a whole series of treatments to help clear his lungs. I don't know, however, how this will end. It's too early to tell. The dangers now are lung infection and the advent of kidney failure. At this moment, it is not yet known if we can avoid them".

Niki Lauda is lucid and responds in an exceptional physical and psychological way, arousing the astonishment of the medical staff, who have never encountered a similar case in their career. Jochen Mass and Emerson Fittipaldi go in person to inquire about the conditions of the Austrian driver, who in the afternoon has a light crisis under the strict surveillance of the doctors, who alternate at his side. In the meantime people continue to wonder what happened: was it a driving error or a technical defect? This is the question that is still being asked about the causes of the skid that caused Niki Lauda's Ferrari to leave the track and catch fire. According to testimonies it is possible that both factors led to the accident. Only Scuderia Ferrari, however, could give a definitive answer: even before the public prosecutor's office in Koblenz - which has taken over the investigation of the case - could seize Lauda's car, the Ferrari representatives had already taken the wreck away. Already at the beginning of the race, the Austrian's car had lost a screw, which was collected by a fireman and returned to the Ferrari mechanics. Someone had suspected that it was a wheel fixing bolt, but this hypothesis is not viable, since Formula 1 cars - as explained to the organisers of the race by the spokesman of the Automobile Club of Germany Michael Briechle - have a single fixing bolt on all four wheels.

Experts think that it was one of the fixing screws of one of the two petrol tanks, which in Ferrari, unlike in other racing cars, are not welded to the body of the car. The version of the loose fuel tank, however, does not seem sufficient to explain the dynamics of the accident; more significant, however, is the testimony of a spectator, Hans Oberhofer, who, being near the site of the accident, was able to observe closely what happened to Lauda's car.

"Lauda clearly shifted gear before the bergwerk turn, lagging behind the other racers; you could hear it distinctly from the roar of the engine. I also noticed the movement of the right arm as of someone who is changing gear. An instant later the car slid away towards the safety net".

Oberhofer believes it is possible, based on the frenzied movement of Lauda's arm, that a defect in the gearbox impeded the manoeuvre, albeit a late one, of changing gears. Regarding the failure of the German police to seize Lauda's Ferrari, on Wednesday, August 4, 1976, it was learned that the police had deemed it appropriate to grant the authorisation for the shipment of the car to Italy, since Lauda's condition did not initially appear to be serious. Still on the subject of the causes of the accident, it seems ascertained that no mistake was made by the mechanics in charge of changing the wheels of Lauda's Ferrari. Witness statements agree that three of the four wheels of the car came off only after Ertl and Lunger's cars ran over Niki Lauda's Ferrari. On the afternoon of Wednesday 4 August 1976, Luca Montezemolo arrives from Sardinia - where he was on vacation - on Umberto Agnelli's personal plane. He reaches the hotel in Mannheim where the Lauda family is spending days of anguish. The swelling on the face caused by the burns has meanwhile subsided and during the morning Niki Lauda is able for the first time to see his wife Marlene, who has gone to visit him in the aseptic room of the institute of anaesthesia and resuscitation.

"Her eyes opened, looking for me. Niki let me know right away that he could catch a glimpse of me".

It is a small progress, as it is psychologically positive that Lauda always reacts with lucidity to the indications of the team of doctors, directed by Professor Lutz, who is trying to save him. In the morning the medical staff asked the Austrian driver to make a series of movements with his shoulders, arms and chest, to help him breathe. Then, tired, he fell asleep. However, it is useless to hide it, the conditions of the Austrian driver remain critical, because on his head hangs always, tremendously threatening, the possibility of a pulmonary infection. The night before there was a slight crisis, however, predicted by doctors and kept under control, while the night did not change the situation and Lauda rested with a certain tranquillity. Wednesday, basically, Niki feels a little bit worse, but always less than the specialists expected. In the afternoon, the driver will still have a small crisis with breathing difficulties, but the situation is largely kept under control. Professor Lutz, in this regard, states:

"We hope that this first critical period can be resolved tomorrow or the day after".

Marlene, speaking with Luca Montezemolo and a few friends, reports that Niki wanted to know if Enzo Ferrari had called.

"I told him yes, and he let me know he was very happy".

In the morning, Clay Regazzoni also calls from Lugano for news of his unfortunate teammate. The conversation slips for a moment on the condition of Lauda's face and his future. The burning gases released in the fire, besides dangerously intoxicating his lungs, have burned Niki's head, forehead and cheeks. A specialist in Frankfurt states that, in his opinion, at least ten operations and two years will be needed for it to be possible to reconstruct the face of the reigning World Champion. Admits Marlene:

"It doesn't matter. Whether Niki comes back uglier or more beautiful than before has no value, I love him anyway".

While Lauda struggles to live, a jumble of hypotheses about the causes of the accident continues to unfold. The prosecutor of the Republic of Koblenz, on which the Nürburgring area depends, Heribert Braun, opens a procedure against unknown persons for culpable lesions, and interrogates various witnesses in an attempt to establish whether Lauda's exit from the track was caused by a mechanical failure or by other causes. The magistrate, in particular, wants to ascertain whether, by chance, the operation of replacing the tyres at the box was never carried out. Someone would have also reported to have seen a fuel tank cap flying off. In the meantime, the German commentators, who are trying to shift the public's attention away from the safety issues raised at the Nürburgring by Lauda's accident, wonder why the Ferrari was not impounded, almost suggesting that the Scuderia of Maranello, having recovered the wreckage, loaded the car onto a truck and quickly returned to Italy. In reality, as mentioned, it was the organisers of the Grand Prix themselves who begged the Maranello mechanics to remove the wreck, which was leaking gasoline and was considered dangerous. Later, the police authorities present on the circuit, who are responsible for any intervention, gave the authorisation to the departure of the team with the remains of the World Champion's single-seater. In defence of the Nürburgring, but above all to clarify certain dynamics and possible inferences, after reading the telegram of warning sent by Maranello, on Wednesday, August 4, Baron Huska Von Hastein spoke, appearing in the Mannheim hotel hosting Lauda's family.

"It's a dangerous track like all the others. This year, to improve it, we spent one hundred and twenty million liras. I would like to point out that twenty-eight seconds after the accident, a fire-fighting car was on the spot and an ambulance arrived after two minutes and eighteen seconds, stopping, however, behind the row of single-seaters in the middle of the road after the stop sign imposed by the race director. I apologised to Enzo Ferrari for certain inferences about the causes of the drama. We never talked about technical defects".

However, a few days earlier Metternich and Von Hanstein, trying to exonerate the Nürburgring circuit, had called Ferrari's fire extinguishing system into question.

"At Ferrari they say that the mechanism worked perfectly. Our commissioners, on the other hand, confirmed that the pressure gauge was still marked full".

And they had added:

"At the site of the accident, at the point where Lauda's car began its tragic skid, we found traces left by mechanical details that had crawled on the asphalt".

The President of the FIA and the German ADAC, Prince Metternich, who went to the hospital to pay his respects to the Austrian driver, also supports the same hypothesis:

"The pressure gauge of the Ferrari car's fire system marked maximum charge; which could mean that it failed in the accident".

Luca Montezemolo, who wouldn't really want to deal with such topics at this time, nevertheless cannot hold back, and says:

"We don't say crazy things. Each wheel of the Ferrari 312 T2 has one big fixing bolt. Either it screws in or it doesn't, and there's no middle ground. Niki couldn't have gone three metres, let alone ten kilometres. Plugs? But there are none on our single-seater. There is only a plastic cover that covers a special valve device. It seems to me that too many things have been written and said out of order. However, Lauda's car is currently being examined in Maranello, where a technical expertise will be carried out, the results of which will be made known in the next few days".

At the same time, the AutomobilClub von Deutschland announced that the accident was not caused by the responsibility of third parties. In a statement, the ADV, which organises the race, also says that according to an authorised expert, the breakage of the suspension of Lauda's Ferrari occurred at the moment of impact against the protective barrier and then against the rocks that are near the circuit. There is therefore no reason to suspect that it was a technical negligence that caused the accident. As far as the wheels are concerned - continues the Avd statement - from the first investigations it appears that they have been properly fixed. From the investigations carried out so far by the Avd, it appears that the fire extinguishing system of the car was not operated manually and that Ferrari did not equip the vehicle with an automatic device, as recommended by the technical regulations. On the same day, although still feverish (39 degrees), Ferrari asks Autosprint's editorial staff for Arturo Merzario's address to send him a telegram:

"Thank you for your act of courage, looking forward to a direct testimony of personal gratitude at the first opportunity".

And he asks CSAI for an expert commission composed of three representatives to verify the 312 T2 arrived in Maranello from Germany. The commission will be composed by the engineers Galmanini, Nosetto from Csai and Peter Jowitt. At the same time, in London the Real Automobile Club rejects the complaint made by Audretto, regarding Hunt's restart at the British Grand Prix and the request for disqualification, then Ferrari announces that it will appeal to the FIA. Thursday, August 5, 1976 Niki Lauda is improving and the doctors of the hospital of Mannheim hope in a few days to dissolve the prognosis. In the course of the morning a cannula that Niki had in his mouth and that helped him in breathing is removed. Afterwards, the Austrian driver talks to his wife Marlene and his brother Florian, and asks to eat a plate of cooked plums. Lauda, in a period of time yet to be defined, could also resume his sporting activity: some concern, however, arouse the conditions of an eye, damaged by the burns. Probably, already the following week, Niki will be transferred to a clinic specialised in the treatment of burns. These are complex days also for Ferrari, which after having considered the idea of taking a replacement for Lauda, decides to suspend its participation in the Formula 1 World Championship, making the choice known through a statement released on Friday 6 August.

"Ferrari informs its sporting friends:

• After noting the regulatory interpretations of the responsible organisers of the World Grand Prix from Brazil onwards, culminating with the dramatic Nürburgring.
• Noting the lack of consideration given by the Fia to the rulings of the A.C. of Spain and the International Sports Commission.
• Disgusted that the Fia itself did not even feel the need to respond to Ferrari's petition, which pointed out that the procedure followed by the Appeals Tribunal should be considered null and void for not having admitted our company as equally interested as the plaintiff.
• Bitter about the absence of real technical-juridical assistance from the Italian sporting authorities.
• Wanting to defend the honorability of its technical managers of the sports management, engineers Forghieri, Rocchi, Bussi, attacked with reckless accusations of technical deficiencies.
• In order to give Engineer Giovanni Sguazzini, the company's managing director, the possibility to take recourse to the judiciary, having noticed that sports justice with its sentences could appear to be a defence of interests that do not fall within its institutional aims.

It has been decided, with immediate effect, to suspend participation in the World Championship".

At Maranello it was also studied an attempt to keep Niki the championship: Regazzoni should have been flanked in the next six races by a very strong driver, and precisely - after Fittipaldi's denial - the Swedish Ronnie Peterson, whose loan from March would have been made possible by the good offices of Ferrari's friends. But when Lauda learned about the contacts between Ferrari and the Swedish driver, he immediately questioned his own will and rejected the idea of having him in the team. So, Ronnie Peterson, who in the meantime arrives at the Milan airport on Thursday, August 5, 1976 to be able to move to Fiorano to test the 312 T2, where Forghieri has prepared a car for the tests to be carried out on Saturday, Monday and Tuesday, is sent back to Great Britain by Audetto. Nevertheless, Lauda telegraphs Maranello:

"I have won the most beautiful race of my life. I am happy that you have decided not to race in Austria. I am sorry I cannot race in Monza".

In addition, on Friday 6 August 1976 a telegram sent by Max Mosley arrives at Maranello, in which the British lawyer threatens legal action in the event that Ferrari has withdrawn Ronnie Peterson from the March. The reasons for the suspension - not withdrawal, so it seems almost certain that Ferrari will be back in the race next year - are basically five. The statement, handwritten by Enzo Ferrari, lists with clear clarity that the Fia, i.e. the International Automobile Federation, is under accusation. The FIA, through its Court of Appeal, has re-qualified James Hunt and McLaren in the Spanish Grand Prix classification and has ignored a petition by Ferrari in this regard, and the Csai, i.e. the Sports Commission that should be the guardian of Ferrari's rights and that, unfortunately, apart from formal communiqués of assistance and commitment, does nothing. And, after all, Mr. Carpi de Resmini, president of the Automobile Club of Italy, is also vice-president of Fia. The latter, the same evening, retorts declaring:

"Ferrari has and has always had our support and solidarity, even on the occasion of the cases in Spain and England. Ferrari's decision comes from the bitterness of many adverse circumstances. But even if we do our best in the international arena, we must not forget that we are not alone in deciding and weighing decisions, which are also the result of balances, meetings and different ideas. I understand Ferrari, I regret its decision, but you cannot say that we did not make ourselves available after Lauda's accident. We got our engineers Nosetto and Galmanini back from vacation for the expertise at Fiorano, we immediately contacted Jowitt".

Above all, Lauda's accident sparked off a flurry of tendentious hypotheses, fuelled by the German Automobile Club itself, the organiser of the Grand Prix, such as the fact that the cylinders containing the extinguishing liquid could not be used. However, it is necessary to point out that Formula 1 technical rules do not oblige at all to place side by side a manual control able to activate the device other automatic systems, based on thermal sensors, able to register a sudden increase of temperature. And, secondly, the manual control had been operated, it is not known whether by Lauda or by one of the rescuers, since the three cylinders were found empty, showing that the liquid had been sprayed in the cockpit and in the other key points of the car. Moreover, the car hit an embankment at over 200 km/h, but the structure of the cockpit, with its double roll bars, resisted magnificently, so that Lauda did not suffer any fractures, except for his cheekbone and jaw. Finally, the Ferrari mechanics, in the course of their expertise, found that the gearbox was in fourth gear; this would make the allegations about a presumed failure or inconvenience to the device initially reported by Hans Oberhofer, a fan present at the venue, fall apart. In conclusion, a small significant detail: the engine ignition command will be found on the off position. This would therefore lead to the assumption that Lauda managed to disconnect the contacts while he was flying off the track. On the same day, the technical commissioners Nosetto and Galmanini carry out the survey at Fiorano on Lauda's car, and issue the following statement:

At the invitation of the Ferrari Company, on August 6, at 11:00 a.m., we, the undersigned, proceeded to inspect the wreck of the car in question coming from the Nürburgring circuit where, on August 1, 1976 at the wheel of the driver Niki Lauda, had suffered the accident.

The wreck suspended on jack-stands presented:

• Missing front and rear left wheels, with evident breakage of the suspension elements attaching them to the chassis, as well as the steering rod. The characteristics of the breakages of these elements unquestionably show that they are the consequence of an anomalous load due to an external action (impact);
• Chassis - Outer left side deformed at the height of the driver's knee: evidence of impact with another car;
• Left central side - fuel tank area - body becomes in the lower external part and without the tank;
• Left rear side - exhaust pipes crushed by external impact;
• Right side exhaust tips clogged with dirt;
• Widespread burn marks particularly noticeable on the right side of the car;
• Bodywork, particularly of the passenger compartment, on the whole almost intact, except for slight deformation. Cockpit and adjacent areas covered with light grey dust;
• Engine electrical circuit breaker, located on a race of the steering wheel, in off position;
• Five-pound fire extinguisher and medical air cylinder air pressure gauge, with index at zero. Fire extinguisher and medical air cylinders: empty;
• External fire extinguisher control handle and main electrical switch (left side of body base upright safety centre) in off position (not operated);
• Gearshift in 4th-speed position;
• Battery clamps (+ and -), positioned vertically in the rear central part of the vehicle, torn by impact;
• Engine air intake control guillotines: sliding (functioning);
• Steering system: intact from steering wheel to steering box included;
• Right side wheels: free;
• Accelerator pedal: free;
• Brakes on front right and rear wheels: not locked;
• Gearbox and differential in perfect working order.

Upon examination of the detached parts, it was noted:

• Left front and rear wheels, connected to their respective hub carriers, free to rotate;
• Left front wheel brake: not locked;
• Pirelli FT/3 safety tank with internal sponge, production March 1976, leaked as a result of deformation by impact of the left container compartment: intact;
• General electric switch control device housed on the rear wing support: intact, torn cables, unexploded charges;
• rear wing heavily deformed due to evident impact against a pole.

Following disassembly it was found:

• Control detonators of extinguishing system (two independent cylinders) and medical air exploded, resulting in perforation of fluid passage control membranes;
• Engine free to rotate.

Conclusions.

After the above mentioned clarifications, the careful examination of the wreck and the detached parts, we believe we can conclude with absolute certainty that:

• The accident could not be caused by defects in the mechanics of the car;
• That all the devices and systems related to the safety measures imposed by the current technical-sporting regulations have been observed and that they have been operated from inside the cockpit;
• That the safety tank has come out of its housing (left side) as a result of a strong external load that has produced the deformation of the housing itself up to the limits of breakage;
• That the detachment of the tank has caused the leakage of fuel that has ignited for causes not ascertained, but presumably for the production of sparks due to impact with other vehicles in collision, or contact with incandescent parts (exhaust pipes).

Signed

P.I. Vincenzo Galmanini

(President S/C Tecnica CSAI)

Dr. Eng. Roberto Nosetto

(Secretary S/C Tecnica CSAI)

The news of Ferrari's withdrawal from the World Championship aroused great surprise in the English automotive world, but the London press limited itself to reporting the news without commenting on it. The Times, for example, publishes the news at the end of an article of about twenty lines on Niki Lauda's current condition; the British newspaper gives the withdrawal just three and a half lines. The Guardian, the other important British newspaper, assigns half a column to the abandonment of Scuderia Ferrari. On the contrary, the Formula 1 teams do not hide their surprise and regret for Ferrari's decision. While James Hunt and the general manager of McLaren, the American Teddy Mayer, are in Austria to test the brand new M 26, which should probably debut in the next race, Friday, August 6, 1976 Harry Piers is surprised:

"Certainly we would have preferred that the Italian cars continued to race, because only in this way our eventual victory in the World Championship would have obtained greater significance".

And also Ken Tyrrell, who is in contention for the World Championship with his six-wheel car, claims to have been painfully surprised by the abandonment, but not to understand the reasons yet:

"What I can only say is that Ferrari has been able to create a formidable car, beautifully designed and built. Any person who knows about racing knows this absolute truth. Without Ferrari, the races will undoubtedly lack sap. Renunciation is undoubtedly detrimental to the sport. It is probably a hasty decision. I only hope that Commendatore Ferrari will change his mind as soon as possible. This decision of his will not help Lauda anyway and it cannot be good for anyone else. All over the world the motor racing fans want to see Ferrari again, and even more we, the constructors, want it. If I were to win the Austrian Grand Prix, what could this success mean?"

Ferrari's sudden renunciation does not seem to have surprised John Surtees much, who, as you may recall, won the 1964 World Championship in a Maranello car:

Asked about the decision of the Maranello company to no longer participate for this season in the Formula 1 World Championship trials, on Saturday morning Clay Regazzoni declares to the newspaper Tribune de Genève:

"I'm still not aware of this decision, I don't know anything. On Thursday morning I went to Milan. Ferrari gave me some directives for some tests to be carried out. There was no sign of this decision. I am therefore waiting for confirmation from Ferrari before making a decision".

It seems in fact that Ferrari has quickly changed its mind, since Regazzoni had stated, among other things, during an interview broadcast by the Ticino radio on Thursday, August 5, 1976 at 12:00 a.m., that Ferrari:

"It will continue the competition until the end of the season hiring as second driver the Swedish Ronnie Peterson".

In the meantime, on Thursday, August 5, 1976 Niki Lauda overcomes the most critical moment and, for the first time, the doctors of the Städtische Krankenanstalten of Mannheim, where the Austrian driver is hospitalised since Sunday, smile and offer comforting forecasts to family and friends. In short, Lauda is not completely out of danger and the prognosis cannot yet be dissolved, but his chances of survival have increased dramatically. Professor Klaus Peter, one of the specialists of the modern and super-efficient institute of anaesthesia and resuscitation directed by Professor Horst Lutz, pronounces the first words of hope after four long days of uncertainty and anxiety, addressing them to Marlene and Florian Lauda, who at 9:00 a.m. went to the hospital for the usual visit to Niki, and to Luca Cordero di Montezemolo and Sante Ghedini, who accompanied them. Montezemolo had to leave for Rome, but before going to Frankfurt to catch his plane he wanted to find out about the Ferrari driver's condition. In a hallway with pale pastel tones, Professor Peter said:

"The patient spent a quiet night, immersed in a restful sleep. We don't yet have the mathematical certainty of his victory in this battle, but the physicist has reacted very well in the last forty-eight hours, overcoming two crises in a way superior to the forecasts. This morning he let us know he was hungry and asked when he would be able to leave the hospital. At this point it is possible to say that Lauda can be saved".

These are cautious words, but they naturally light up the faces of Marlene Lauda, Florian, Montezemolo and Ghedini. In the moments that followed, Marlene burst into tears, embracing her brother-in-law and Montezemolo. Tears of joy after the anxiety of these days and the bitterness for certain articles in the German press, whose bad taste touches unimaginable heights. One newspaper, for example, in addition to insisting on the problems of the burns on Niki's face, publishes a slightly risqué photo from the days when Marlene was a model.

"It's a miracle, a miracle, Niki didn't realise the seriousness of the situation and we, of course, kept it from him. Niki thinks he's only hospitalised because of the burns: he knows he's burned, but he feels his legs and arms are intact. He didn't realise that he had been poisoned by the gases he breathed in the fire".

Then Marlene pronounces very nice words towards the drivers who extracted her husband from the cockpit of the burning Ferrari.

"They were all wonderful, but I think Arturo Merzario was the best and the bravest. If it wasn't for him, for them, I would have lost Niki. Now I want to look for Merzario, to tell him that I thank him".

While Montezemolo admits that:

"This is the first time we are told that Niki can really save himself. This is great news for Ferrari, for Enzo Ferrari, for those who, like me, have been thinking of Lauda these days as a man and a friend before being a driver. It seems to me, at this point, that Niki, whom I will always consider the 1976 Formula 1 World Champion, has won his most difficult Grand Prix. Once again, he has shown what it means to be able to react and to fight".

And, shortly thereafter, Professor Lutz makes the point about Lauda's condition:

"Perhaps we can release the prognosis in the next two days. The driver's breathing and blood circulation have improved considerably, so much so that we have removed the cannula that had been placed in his throat to help him breathe. The pulmonary infection is under control, but we do not exclude the possibility of possible crises, also in relation to the burns. Lauda asked me if, in case of recovery, he would be able to return to racing. I told him yes, and he seemed relieved. The driver had no brain injury. There is only one problem, we don't know what condition Lauda's eyes are in. We fear that the visual function of one of them, the left one, could have been compromised by the burns".

Other details are later provided by Florian Lauda:

"Niki is breathing by his own means today. He asked for something to eat, a cup of cooked prunes, but we told him to be content with IV fluids. At this point I'm optimistic, although I don't forget that my brother, beyond the progress, is still a patient in the resuscitation room. The worst moment was Tuesday afternoon: I spent terrible hours, because I feared he might shut down at any moment. The fact that I was almost a doctor certainly didn't help, because I always knew what Niki's real situation was and I had to hide it, as much as possible, from Marlene and my parents. I love my brother very much, I know a Niki that you can't imagine. I don't care much about racing, but I have realised one thing: the rescue services, everywhere, are badly organised. For example, along the tracks there are not the most important men for an emergency intervention, that is the resuscitators and the anesthesiologists".

Marlene Lauda, back in the hotel from the hospital, does not eat, but prefers to throw herself on the bed. Then, in the afternoon she returns to see Niki after having refused, abruptly, an interview on Italian television.

"I finally slept a few hours. Niki also asked me if his plane was in Mannheim and if the new cockpit instruments, just bought, were working well".

The news of Enzo Ferrari's decision to suspend participation in the Grand Prix indirectly offered other reasons for consolation to the Lauda family.

"Niki will be happy".

Ernst and Elisabeth Lauda also appeared happy: Niki's parents, confirming their son's improvement, decided to return to Vienna on Friday, August 6, 1976, and Florian should do the same, while Marlene and Sante Ghedini, the efficient factotum at Maranello, would remain in Mannheim.

Further good news came during the day on Friday, as Niki Lauda's condition continued to improve, undergoing a progress defined as extraordinary by Professor Horst Lutz, who in addition declared that the feeding through phlebotomy had been reduced and that Niki was now in condition to eat light meals:

"We'll start with some cooked fruit, then move on to more substantial foods".

Breathing and blood circulation are normal, to the point that Professor Lutz communicates with a smile:

"That it will no longer be necessary to issue periodic medical bulletins".

He then adds that:

"Lauda - barring any crisis at the present time unforeseeable - will be able to leave the Städtische Krankenanstalten on Monday. He will be transferred to Ludwigshafen, in the specialised clinic for burns where he was brought from Adenau one hour after the accident on the Nürburgring circuit".

The doctors at Ludwigshafen will begin plastic surgery treatments immediately. In this regard, Lauda's situation is better than what had been thought at first. Marlene confesses:

"Niki's face is deflating. The flames have not affected him. The worst burns are on the neck and the back of his head".

Lauda's progress is exceptional, but it must be considered that the Austrian driver has an exceptional physique, as a sportsman, intact and well trained. Moreover, in these cases the psychological reaction skills play a big role. And Niki turned into a restless patient, who would like to hurry up and leave his bed. On Saturday, August 7, 1976, the Austrian driver is placed on a chair in the aseptic room where Marlene brings him a huge bundle of Italian and foreign newspapers and magazines that Sante Ghedini has gone to buy in Frankfurt. Niki glances through them, making himself read the passages that most interest him. His wife, who has already informed him the previous evening, illustrates to Niki Ferrari's statement on the suspension of activity.

"My husband was very pleased with Ferrari's decision. He said that the commendatore has done very well and that this way it will be less difficult for him to regain the lost time when he returns to racing. Niki is sure to be back on track in a few months and I will respect his wishes. He's interested in everything now and doesn't want to be lost when he gets out of the hospital".

Knowing the World Champion's character and will, one can be sure that he will work hard to get back behind the wheel of his Formula 1 Ferrari. Will he succeed? It is likely also because, contrary to the fears that were initially expressed, the doctors note that Lauda's eyes have not been injured. The dramatic adventure that began last Sunday at the Nürburgring is therefore coming to an end in the best possible way. Having won the biggest battle, the Austrian driver will now face a second challenge to become the champion he has always been. For himself and for Ferrari. Sunday, August 8, 1976, Niki Lauda continues to improve and takes giant steps towards recovery every day. Having overcome the critical phase caused by the intoxication of the gases breathed in the fire, the Austrian driver begins to walk and remains seated on his bed for a long time, eating cooked and raw fruit and the first soups.

"In the coming days, the driver will be able to resume a normal diet".

And in the meantime, it is confirmed that on Monday Lauda will be transferred to the burn clinic in Ludwigshafen, where plastic surgery specialists should start operating on Niki's head. The hands do not need any special care, except for the right one, which has been burned but fortunately not seriously. Lauda remembers nothing of the accident, but Marlene tells him in detail the various phases of the disaster, emphasising the splendid behaviour of his rescuers.

"If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't be here now. They saved me".

At the same time, Ferrari's decision to suspend participation in the Formula 1 world championship begins to set off a chain of problems. While the leaders of motor sports are agitated, the Austrian Grand Prix, scheduled for August 15, 1976 on the circuit of Zeltweg, goes through a delicate moment, to the point that it is thought, even, that this can not be disputed. From Austria come controversial and contrasting news: first of all, the organisers of the Grand Prix threatened to sue Ferrari for damages because they feared they would incur a financial loss - about three million schillings, since it is calculated that Italians and Swiss would lose twenty percent and Austrians ten percent - due to the absence of the Maranello team and its drivers at their race. Peter Ramensthelar, administrative manager of the company that manages the Zeltweg circuit, says that the Italian company had already entered two cars, thus concluding a contract that can only be invalidated for reasons of force majeure. This would obviously be the case for Lauda, but not for Regazzoni. The organisers, according to Austrian sources, claim not to have yet received official notification of Ferrari's withdrawal, and they add that they have not been able to get in touch with Maranello. However, it is proven that between the parties there has been a dense exchange of telexes, and to a specific request of the Austrians to run at least Regazzoni, Italy responded with a polite and dry denial. The Austrian government is also involved in the affair, albeit in the background. The authorities in Vienna would be extremely perplexed as to whether or not they would give their approval to the Grand Prix for two reasons: on the one hand, out of a sense of solidarity with Lauda - who is an idol in Austria - and with Ferrari, and on the other hand, for fear of unrest. In Vienna they are afraid that Niki's and Maranello's fans - Austrian, Italian or of any nationality - could make unconscious gestures before and during the race. In any case, the police service, if the race takes place, will be reinforced. Certainly, the tension in Formula 1 continues, and more than ever a definitive clarification is necessary, also because in the meantime, Clay Regazzoni, present in Bordighera and about to reach Maranello, on Sunday August 8, 1976 declares:

"Following the decision of the engineer Ferrari not to participate in the next championship races I would like to clarify the following: first of all, from the moment when Ferrari decided to abstain from the next Grand Prix I did not have the opportunity to speak with any representative of the press, and I was very annoyed reading presumed statements of mine about it. After Ferrari's decision I spoke with engineer Forghieri, who confirmed that, despite the situation of the moment, the testing program will continue as planned. As for the decision itself, I fully agree with Ferrari's position even if, as a sportsman, I am sorry not to be able to defend the colours of the Maranello factory and Lauda's position in the next Grand Prix".

Sunday 8 August 1976 Niki Lauda leaves the hospital of Mannheim, transported to the one of Ludwigshafen, specialised in the treatment of burns. Now Lauda can also drink wine, while Hunt tests at Zeltweg the new McLaren N26 and beats the track record turning in 1'34"46. Monday 9 August 1976 Regazzoni does comparative tests with the tyres used by him and Lauda at the Nürburgring, and then he tries the new Goodyear tyres at Fiorano. When Regazzoni tests the tyres used by Lauda, he finds the same vibrations coming from the rear tyres that the Austrian had reported on Friday. This should be caused by the problems of the too big production of monotype tyres: one hundred and eighty tyres produced together would give rise to these differences of compound and general condition. 

In the meantime, Sante Ghedini comes back to Maranello and confirms to Ferrari (in the meantime he is afebrile) that Lauda unfastened his helmet while he was inside the car, immediately after the first impact, to check the effects of the blow to the cheekbone (but actually the helmet slipped off during the impact). So he was engulfed in flames to the face while he was defenceless, at the new investments. On Tuesday at the Fiorano circuit it rains, so Regazzoni cannot continue the tests. Meanwhile, in Germany, Lauda is interviewed by Austrian television:

"Now I think about getting well. I will think about coming back to the races only if I will be healed one hundred percent".

And from Cologne Chris Amon announces his definitive withdrawal from the races, so that the Ensign replaces him - after payment of 16.000.000 Italian liras - with the Austrian Binder. While from Great Britain the vice-president of Ford, Walter Hayes, defends Enzo Ferrari's position and his decision to retire from racing, declaring:

"At least I took Ferrari literally, and on June 21, 1976 I told Michael Kranefuss that in my opinion Ferrari would retire before the end of the season, and for a very long time, if the appeal for the British Grand Prix was rejected. It is not a question of agreeing or disagreeing with Ferrari's point of view, nor do I believe that he is seeking your support, but the fact is that motor racing for the rest of the year will be much less valid because of the absence of Ferrari. Then there is no doubt that it would be just as well if the people most administratively attached to the sport learned by heart the lesson consequent upon this incident, for the people our sport must above all concern itself with are the spectators who, however nationalistic they may be, have a right to see it fairly governed".

He then continues:

"It is my opinion, for what it may be worth, that Hunt won fairly and deservedly at Brands Hatch: it was a completely new race, but he won it. I don't even believe that his performance in Spain was in any way favoured by the infinitesimal measurement error. But just as there can be no such thing as almost-virgin women, there can be no such thing as flexible regulations, and our sport would do well to remember that it has only been able to achieve its current position of power and enormous advantages by virtue of being exciting and fair, and because it has largely avoided falling into the discrimination and diatribes that have distorted so many other sports. Now it would be an excellent idea if the journalists of the European specialised press would make Ferrari see that everyone wants its return: it would be an even better idea if the manufacturers would send one of their representatives to Ferrari to appease its indignation".

And from Paris, Tuesday, August 10, 1976, the newly appointed Secretary of the CSI, Yvon Leon, in a brief statement explains:

"The Csi confirms that the Italian Grand Prix will be held on the scheduled date at the Monza circuit, since the Milan area is not affected by the pollution problems".

This clarification, apparently gratuitous, was actually requested by the organisers of the Grand Prix, concerned about certain rumours circulating in Great Britain. In the same week after the German Grand Prix, a specialised British weekly reported that the Italian Grand Prix would not be held because of the leak of poisonous substances at ICMESA in Seveso. In fact Seveso is not so far from the park of Monza, but certainly the area of the racetrack is far from even the most peripheral affected by the toxic cloud. Wednesday, August 11, 1976 in Rome the extraordinary meeting called by the Csai after Ferrari's accusations about the lack of sport-legal assistance takes place. 

The meeting concludes with expressions of solidarity for Ferrari, and with the admission of the moral wrongs suffered by Ferrari at the hands of international sporting bodies. On this occasion the expertise of the Csai engineers, Nosetto and Galmanini, was made public and an invitation was expressed to resume participation in the Formula 1 championship in Italy, at Monza.

"It is guaranteed that Csai will do everything possible to obtain satisfaction from the International Appeals Tribunal so that Hunt and McLaren will be removed from the classification of the British Grand Prix".

Will Ferrari say yes? The assent does not depend only on him, but also on the managing director of the company, Giovanni Sguazzini. The president of ACI, lawyer Carpi, echoes what Csai has issued, and reiterates that it is important for Ferrari to return to racing soon.

"To avoid a penalization to Italian and foreign motor sportsmen, not responsible for the deprecated decisions of certain international bodies".

Carpi's telegram to Ferrari's address concludes:

"I trust that your high sportsmanship will not want to miss the traditional appointment of Monza, the presence of your prestigious cars, the result of the hard work done by you, your technicians and all the workers of your industry".

Nonetheless, on Wednesday 11 August 1976, Scuderia Ferrari clarifies what happened in Germany through envelopes with the Prancing Horse emblem, addressed to newspapers throughout Italy. Inside the envelopes there is a tidy documentation on the Lauda-Ferrari-Nürburgring case: a statement from the Maranello factory, written in the original minute by Enzo Ferrari, shows the text of the technical report of the specialists of the Italian Automobil Sports Commission (CSAI), and a series of photographs taken in the workshop on the wreck of the Austrian driver's single-seater. From the documentation prepared by Ferrari, it emerges irrefutably that Lauda's accident was not caused by a failure of the car, but rather by causes that can be hypothesised but cannot be specified, apart from the fact that the track was not yet completely dry. So a series of circumstances, from the damp road surface to Lauda's driving at the limit, engaged in a frantic pursuit, to the tyres. It is interesting to report some of Ferrari's clarifications, which hint at rash statements and considerations made by the organisers of the German race and the media, in particular:

• It was stated that the first cause of the accident was due to the loss of a wheel, as stated in the organisers' statement number 39 of August 1. Ferrari, in the light of the conclusions of the technical report, requested from Csai, can state that this is completely false, as also shown by the subsequent report of the Avd technical commissioners;
• It has been said that Ferrari managers and technicians sneaked away from the Nürburgring, removing the wreck of the car from any technical investigation. This is also completely false. Ferrari left the Nürburgring only after the organisers' technicians had invited the team to recover the wreck of the car. This was also with the agreement of Von Hanstein, president of the Avd sports commission and vice president of the CSI, once the five commissioners had finished their inspection, as stated in their communiqué number 51 of August 4;
• It has been said that the 312 T2 did not have a fire extinguishing system, but this is contrary to the truth, as the report has shown. It is enough to remember that the same scrutineers would not have allowed our cars to start, if the safety rules related to the systems had not been found regular during the verification;
• It has been reported in the press that the FIA president declared that the pressure gauge of the main extinguisher was broken. The report found that the pressure gauge was in the empty position, a condition in which the on board extinguisher was found, after having been manually operated from inside the car and this was detected by the drivers who rescued Lauda.

The reconstruction of the accident is meticulous. It does not deviate from what was already known, but it offers some additional details of considerable interest: Lauda was struck violently on the helmet by one of the wooden poles of the safety nets. Edwards avoided the Ferrari, stopped after a hundred metres and ran back on foot to help his colleague. Lunger and Ertl made the 312 T2 fly fifty metres. From the bodywork gutted by the collisions, the left rubber tank leaked, soaking the exterior of the Ferrari with gasoline. The statement concludes with words of bitterness and accusation:

"Ferrari is saddened to see how it has speculated on such a sad event, throwing discredit on an entire factory that has always worked with a high sense of responsibility, in an attempt to safeguard the viability of a circuit now condemned by the evolution of the times".

What else to say?