Ex Formula 1 driver Niki Lauda is recovering from a lung transplant in Vienna General Hospital.
The hospital in a statement said that Lauda had been suffering from a severe lung disease and added that they won’t release any more statements on his condition now.
The Vienna General Hospital also added that the transplant was carried out successfully.
Niki Lauda had thrice been the F1 world champion and had won the world drivers’ title with Ferrari and McLaren thrice in 1975, 1977 and 1984.
As reported by the Osterreich newspaper, last week Lauda was spotted holidaying in Ibiza, which he had to cut short after he developed an infection in his lungs. He returned to Vienna and started with the treatment.
In 2012, Mercedes appointed Lauda as their non-executive chairman and he was associated in getting the signature of Lewis Hamilton, that saw Hamilton joining the Mercedes team.
Lauda in 1976 had previously crashed into the mound of the race track in Germany at the Nurburgring circuit. His fellow drivers rescued him, as his car was engulfed in flames. He suffered severe burns in the accident but was back competing on the F1 track six weeks later as he tried to close down the gap between him and late British F1 driver and world champion, James Hunt.
