Guy Mayfield

[first lines]

Niki Lauda: Twenty five drivers start every season in Formula One, and each year two of us die. What kind of person does a job like this? Not normal men, for sure. Rebels, lunatics, dreamers. People who are that desperate to make a mark, and are prepared to die trying. My name is Niki Lauda, and racing people know me for two things. The first is my rivalry with him.

[James Hunt]

Niki Lauda: I don't know why it became such a big thing. We were just drivers busting each other's balls. To me this is perfectly normal, but other people saw in differently. That whatever it was between us went deeper. The other thing I'm remembered for is what happened on 1st August 1976, when I was chasing him like an asshole...

Italian Journalist: How are you feeling, Niki?

Niki Lauda: Fine.

American Journalist: Niki, can you confirm to us exactly which procedures you've had and the expectations for your recovery?

Niki Lauda: Sure. I had a skin graft operation, where they put half my right thigh in my face. Now it doesn't look too good, but one unexpected advantage is it's impossible to perspire through a skin graft, so sweat will never run into my eyes again, which is good for a driver.

[laughter from the journalists]

Spanish Journalist: [Raises hand] When they heard about your condition, Ferrari immediately hired a replacement driver, Carlos Reutemann.

Niki Lauda: Yeah. Before even reaching the hospital.

German Journalist: Is Reutemann driving today, too?

Niki Lauda: Yes, and keen to make an impression. So let's see where Mr. Reutemann finishes and where I finish today.

American Journalist: James Hunt and McLaren have caught up a lot while you were away.

Niki Lauda: Yes. So is there a question now, or are you just trying to piss me off?

[laughter from the journalists]

German Journalist: Do you still think you can win?

Niki Lauda: Yes, of course. I have the better car. And possibly I'm the better driver. But he's a clever guy, and he's used his time well while I was lying half-dead in hospital... to win some points.

British Journalish: And what did your wife say when she saw your face?

[Lauda pauses]

Niki Lauda: She said, 'Sweetie, you don't need a face to drive. You just need a right foot.'

[laughter from the journalists]

British Journalish: I'm being serious. Do you really think your marriage can survive with the way you look now?

Niki Lauda: And I'm being serious, too.

[Points at British journalist]

Niki Lauda: Fuck you. Press conference over.

[Lauda gets up angrily and storms his way out of the press conference]