Nobody expected 1975 World Champion Niki Lauda to return to the cockpit after his tragic accident at the Nurburgring on August 1, 1976. In the days after the near-fatal crash he was given the last rites, so it was nothing short of a miracle that only 6 weeks later he appeared in Italy and declared his intention to drive! This presented Ferrari with an interesting dilemma, having just signed a contract with Carlos Reutemann to drive for the Scuderia. Now the Italian team would be forced to prepare three cars!
For the first time in memory, there was threat of rain during the Grand Prix weekend. The cool, damp weather caught many drivers out, but Lauda managed a very respectable fifth place on the grid, starting directly ahead of Reutemann in seventh and Regazzoni in ninth.
The rain eased off in time for a dry start on Sunday. As the cars rolled onto the front straight following their warm-up lap, Lauda popped the Ferrari out of gear and rolled into position on the grid. The 10-second signal he was expecting never appeared, and before anybody knew it the lights went green. Lauda was left behind by both his teammates, Reutemann and Regazzoni and a handful of other competitors.
Clearly not one to be beaten down, Lauda fought back from the 12th position he fell into at the start, making up a position each lap until he was in 7th. At the half-way mark, the skies opened up and Lauda eased off the pace until the track dried out. With 10 laps to go Lauda squeezed ahead of Scheckter for 4th. Only the Austrian knew at the time that his Ferrari was indicating dangerously low oil pressure. Scheckter attacked the ailing Ferrari on the last corner but Lauda held off the charge by half a car length at the finish line.
Lauda had shown sufficient pace to win had rain not stirred up the event. Not bad for a man on his death bed just a few weeks prior!
A brave Niki Lauda (#1) leads Brambilla's March through the chicanes at Monza on his way to a 4th place finish in his return to Formula 1 competition.
