ZURICH - Former Formula One champion Niki Lauda is in hospital in Vienna with the flu, five months after undergoing a lung transplant, Austrian media sites reported on Sunday.

Lauda, 69, an Austrian, was flown in early January from the Spanish island of Ibiza where he had been vacationing to a hospital in the Austrian capital, the publication Oesterreich reported on its website.

Oesterreich reported that Lauda was in the intensive care station but should be released from the hospital later this week, without citing sources.

A spokesperson at the Vienna General Hospital could not immediately be reached for comment.

Lauda, who was badly burned in 1976 in a Formula One race and later became an airline entrepreneur, underwent a lung transplant in August and was recuperating from the complicated surgery.

Reuters