Lewis Hamilton, Toto Wolff and Alain Prost among F1 stars in attendance as Niki Lauda is laid to rest in home city of Vienna
Thursday 30 May 2019 06:12, UK
Formula 1 stars of past and present - including Lewis Hamilton - paid their respects to the great Niki Lauda at his funeral in Vienna on Wednesday.
Hamilton, who raced to victory in the Monaco GP on Sunday in a helmet bearing Lauda's colours and name, escorted the coffin out of St Stephen's Cathedral, along with Alain Prost and Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas, among others.
Brundle: Lauda, Lewis and Monaco
Lauda, a triple world F1 champion best remembered for his comeback from a fiery crash in 1976 that left him badly burned and scarred him for life, died last week at the age of 70.
Lauda's former McLaren team-mate Prost gave a reading from the Old Testament at the private ceremony.
Fellow Austrian racing driver Gerhard Berger, Austrian-born star Arnold Schwarzenegger and two Austrian dignitaries -President Alexander Van der Bellen and recently ousted Chancellor Sebastian Kurz - also gave short speeches at the end of the service.
Lauda was buried at a smaller ceremony later in the day.
Hundreds of fans queued in the rain to pay their last respects to the motorsport legend as he lay in state in St. Stephen's Cathedral in the morning.
Members of Lauda's family accompanied pallbearers carrying his remains into the gothic cathedral in the morning. His wife Birgit and two of his sons placed Lauda's red-and-white driver's helmet on the casket.
Fans then came in and filed past the coffin that was placed on a platform in the centre of the cathedral.
