Toto Wolff inaugurated on Tuesday morning a Lauda Drive avenue in Brackley, right in front of the Mercedes factory, in England. This street pays tribute to Niki Lauda, an important figure for Mercedes.
The pathway that leads to the Mercedes factory in Brackley is called “Reynard Park”. Starting today, the town of Brackley, at the request of Mercedes, will rename it “Lauda Drive”.
The triple Formula 1 world champion, Niki Lauda, has long been associated with Mercedes. When the team returned to F1 in 2010, they notably hired Lauda as a consultant and Non-Executive Chairman, meaning he had no decision-making power.
The road in the heart of the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team technology campus has been renamed in honor of three-time Formula One world champion Niki Lauda.
Previously titled “Reynard Park” after Adrian Reynard – the owner of the site until it was purchased by the team last year – the name of the road, which runs through the Brackley site, has been changed with the approval of the town hall and Niki Lauda’s family.
The new sign was unveiled by Toto Wolff, CEO and team principal, on Tuesday afternoon in front of the team members and local press.
“It is a true honor to unveil Lauda Drive and it was great to see so many team members come together to attend this,” said Toto Wolff.
Although our dear friend and colleague Niki wouldn’t have wanted us to make a big deal out of it, he would also be proud that this road bears his name. It was a privilege for all of us to work alongside him, and I was fortunate to count him as one of my closest friends. He made significant contributions to our success, was an excellent teammate by my side, and a strong non-executive chairman. We miss him dearly. I wish he were still here as a friend and as our chairman because there are many questions I would have liked to ask him this year.
Mercedes notably used one of Niki Lauda’s most famous quotes to sum up their difficult 2022 season: “From success, you learn absolutely nothing. From failures and setbacks, conclusions can be drawn.”
