Niki Lauda Quotes

I think fear is what keeps us from going over the edge. I mean, as a race car driver, I don't think what makes a good race car driver is a fearless person. I think it's somebody that is comfortable being behind the wheel of something that's somewhat out of control.

People don't understand that it was maybe my biggest pleasure to drive an F1 car when it's wet.

When I do retire, I know for a fact that I'll never be able to replace the incredible feeling I get when I'm driving an F1 car.

Nothing can really prepare you for when you get in the Formula One car. Knowing that you're driving a multimillion-dollar car, and if you crash it it's going to cost a lot of money, and they might not give you another chance, is scary.

Driving a race car is like dancing with a chain saw.

It's just fantastic to feel the speed and the braking. It was a hard work - to hold an f1 car on the circuit is a job in itself. To drive quickly is another thing. I enjoyed it.

There is no recipe for that. Both [Nico Rosenberg and Lewis Hamilton] are very likely equally talented in the car, so the fight between the two happens between the ears - in the head.

When I think of the pace that I drove my first race, everything was happening a million miles an hour. Now when I get in the car everything happens so much slower.

The first time I fired up a car, felt the engine shudder and the wheel come to life in my hands, I was hooked. It was a feeling I can't describe. I still get it every time I get into a race car.

I remember, as a young man, wanting to experience a car going at those speeds and being visually nourished by something which I loved so much. And I wanted to race fast cars and have a good time.

And Michael Schumacher is 37 seconds ahead, so he can refuel the car, change all four wheels, take off his helmet, have a smoke and a cup of tea, and rejoin in first.

This car of mine, I am tickled to death with it. The machine is nearly everything, its power, stability and balance. The driver, allowing for his experience and courage, is much less.

It's a treat to see the sun rise over the desert. What am I saying? It's a treat to fire off a rocket car over the desert!

People want to see the car crash instead of the race. But, when you're the one in the car that's crashing, it's not much fun. I'm enjoying the race.

In the winter I was with Nelson Piquet. He was talking about his capacity to race faster. He said that he was still learning new things all the time.

I was not interested at all in Formula One when I left; I was very busy with my airline. But slowly I started missing the adrenaline rush and the driving of such fantastic cars at the limit. In reality this urge never disappears when you're a top driver, because I think we're a different breed of people, we need to take chances, we need to push ourselves to the limit all the time, that sort of thing. It stays with you, although you can kill it by losing motivation or other things in your life, but it never leaves you forever.

If I had a musical identity that was definable then it would be time to get into painting or something else. Race car driving.

Every time my cameras go out on a movie, we learn something new and then we take what we learn and we put it into the next generation of the cameras so we're constantly improving. It's kind of like building a race car, racing it, then running back to the shop and working on the engine some more and tinkering with it to improve it.

You ride in a limousine the first time, it's a big thrill but after that it's just a stupid car.

If they invent a car that runs on stupid jokes, you could go far.

I am excited about Indian Grand Prix F1 race. I will support the Force India team. I have friends like Michael Schumacher but I will support Force India because that is the Indian team and country comes first.

I'm constantly watching my weight for my job, and I've trained so hard this year to be ready for this season-more rigorously than ever - but people who tune in to Formula One have no comprehension of what we have to do to be fit. It's so physical. This year, the car is way faster than when you came to the race. And the physicality has gone up quite a lot, at least 20 to 30 percent. People don't see that. They don't see us as athletes. They just see us driving.

Nigel Mansell is the last person in the race apart from the five in front of him

There is always a chance of failure, of producing something totally unnecessary. But I guess that chance of failure is what makes tightrope walking, race-car driving.

It’s the opening of Manderlay in Cannes, and I’m sitting next to this guy who’s writing for a tiny fictitious French paper called ‘On the Sunny Side,’ and he’s writing a review on the film, and he’s obviously bored. Then he tells me about all the cars he owns, and how rich he is, and all these things... So, at a certain point, he says, "So what do you do?" Then I take out this very strange hammer we have in the Danish building business, and I say, "I kill." And then I kill him. It is as stupid as it sounds.