If you are for a long time at the top you've basically achieved everything you wanted to. Then the ball's breaking stuff starts to be too much: it's not what you do in the car, it's what you do outside the car - the press conferences, the interviews, the sponsorship commitments, the marketing appearances - that sadly go up to a level that the whole package, including the risks you take, the workload you do to get the car to work and for you to be quick in the races, it becomes too much.
Niki LaudaReally, you should always discuss the defeats because you can learn much more from failure than from success.
Niki LaudaYou have a brake in your brain that stops you doing stupid things. The older you are, the earlier that brake comes on. When you're 20 you stop at nothing; when you're older you're cleverer than when you're 20, so your brain brake operates more often!
Niki LaudaI see myself as the mind of the business which takes care of every last detail; if you do not do this you cannot be fast enough.
Niki LaudaIt was the same with Schumacher: the need for the adrenaline rush, to push himself to the limit was always there. So without a Formula One car to race with he went on to do motorcycle racing and other stupid things, and obviously that wasn't enough to keep him happy, so he had a problem to sort out and returning to racing was his answer to the problem.
Niki Lauda