Lauda denies scaling back F1 involvement

Niki Lauda has denied that he is beginning to pull away from formula one.

Throughout the team’s ultra-successful ’power unit’ era, the F1 legend has been Mercedes’ F1 chairman alongside team boss Toto Wolff.

But Lauda will no longer be an expert TV pundit for the German broadcaster RTL in 2018, and in recent days he made a successful bid to buy back his airline Niki.

Asked if it means he is scaling back his F1 involvement, the 68-year-old Austrian said: "Why? Nothing changes.

"As always, I will be at every grand prix and involved at Brackley as often as necessary," Lauda told Speed Week.

His fellow Mercedes chief, Toto Wolff, agrees: "Niki’s work on our supervisory board was never in question. There are no problems at all."