Four Seasons at Ferrari - The Lauda Years

By: Alan Henry .

THIS penetrating and dramatic account of a pivotal era in the history of Ferrari's legendary Grand Prix team centres round the relationship between the pushy and ambitious young Niki Lauda, the team's number one driver from 1974-77, and the team's management headed by the autocratic and often irascible Enzo Ferrari. Alan Henry charts Lauda's emergence as a world championship contender for 1975, his fiery accident in the 1976 German Grand Prix, his fight back to regain the title in 1977 and his abrupt departure from the team at the end of that year.

The author's vivid inside story of Ferrari's dominance during the Lauda years, and his account of the creative, sometimes destructive tensions within the team, will make his book essential reading for anyone who follows Formula 1 and its history.

The partnership between Niki Lauda and the Ferrari team is one of the most dramatic and dynamic in post-war Grand Prix racing. In four years the team won 10 Grands Prix, Lauda won two driver's world championships and Ferrari won three constructors' world championships. In his tightly packed, colourful account of this successful and sometimes tempestuous period, Alan Henry gives a fascinating insight into the way Lauda worked with the Ferrari team, which was then headed by its founding father Enzo Ferrari who was in his mid-70s. Henry's account revolves around the gripping personal relationship between two highly motivated and very different individuals.

As he reconstructs each season, Alan Henry looks again at the crucial Grands Prix and at the continuous development of the 312 racing car. He gives incisive portraits of the chief characters involved — Mauro Forghieri, Luca di Montezemolo, Carlos Reutemann, Clay Regazzoni, Enzo Ferrari and Niki Lauda — and he uses revealing anecdotes and the recollections of team members to produce a remarkable, close- up view of Formula 1 racing 25 years ago.

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