Zandvoort, the circuit where Niki Lauda won his last race

On August 25, 1985, Niki Lauda beat Alain Prost to win his 25th and final victory, just one week after announcing his retirement.

As the 1985 Dutch Grand Prix approached, Niki Lauda was already a legend, with 25 victories placing him second behind Jackie Stewart in the sport's history books. However, this triumph, his 25th victory, came about under circumstances that almost prevented it from happening.

The Austrian had started the year after a grueling 1984 season that earned him a third world title by a narrow margin of half a point. With his contract for 1985 uncertain, Lauda spent weeks negotiating with McLaren boss Ron Dennis. The price he had to pay to stay was a pay cut, a concession he reluctantly accepted in order to keep his seat alongside his rival Alain Prost. However, this compromise came with an undesirable side effect: the new MP4/2B chassis simply did not suit Lauda's driving style. While Prost quickly found his rhythm, Lauda struggled with a car that proved unreliable and uncooperative. Frustration grew, and at a press conference in Austria, he announced what he believed to be his definitive departure from Formula 1. “I'm stopping here,” he said, “and this time I really mean it.” ” This statement seemed to be confirmed a week later when his home Grand Prix ended with a turbo failure thirteen laps from the finish, leaving the red-helmeted champion watching the race from the sidelines.

The drama moved to Zandvoort, where slippery roads and a series of mechanical problems forced Lauda to start from the fifth row, far behind Prost. Nelson Piquet's stalling created a sudden opening, and Lauda's lightning-fast overtaking of the Brazilian paved the way for a fierce duel. Prost, nicknamed “The Professor,” took advantage of an incident in the pit lane to take the lead, but Lauda responded by pushing the turbo to its limits, regaining precious tenths of a second. The two Austrians and the Frenchman engaged in a fierce battle for the fastest lap time, with each lap a test of nerves and mechanics. In the end, Lauda crossed the finish line two tenths of a second ahead of Prost, claiming his only victory of the season. Prost later recalled the moment with a smile: “When I saw that he hadn't increased his power, I simply said thank you. It was an elegant gesture. ” This second place proved decisive for Prost's championship, which he went on to win later that year. Lauda's last chance to claim another victory came at the inaugural Adelaide street race. The new circuit proved unforgiving, with many drivers falling victim to its challenging surface and relentless heat. Lauda managed to stay out of the chaos until lap 57, when a catastrophic brake failure at 180 mph sent his McLaren into a wall of tires. He escaped the wreckage, but the incident echoed the tragedy that had marked the beginning of his career three decades earlier.

In retrospect, Lauda's 1985 season can be seen as a lesson in resilience: a driver forced to take a pay cut, struggling with an unsuitable car, announcing his retirement, then defying the odds to win in the rain at Zandvoort, before seeing his career end in an accident that mirrored his first. The milestone of 25 victories, once a distant goal, became a poignant landmark in a career marked as much by perseverance as by podium finishes.