Niki Lauda out of hospital after brief illness

Mercedes non-executive chairman Niki Lauda has been discharged from hospital in Vienna after battling a flu over the past few weeks. Lauda had been taken to hospital during a holiday in Ibiza in early January.

Lauda missed much of 2018 after undergoing a lung transplant in late on in the season, missing the remainder of the F1 year. Lauda was discharged from the AKH hospital in Vienna after recovering from the transplant and went on holiday to Ibiza with his family.

The Austrian was then taken ill but Walter Klepetko, head of the thoracic department at AKH, maintained that his health was never critical during the period of recovery from his illness. Klepetko also confirmed that Lauda was free to leave the hospital

Lauda's involvement with Mercedes in 2019 in relation to his appearance at the first race in Melbourne has not been confirmed. An appearance in Australia will very much depend on his wellbeing by the time the new season gets underway.