Three-time Formula 1 world champion Niki Lauda has returned to intensive care in Vienna due to flu, according to a report from Austria.

Lauda received a lung transplant in August last year, at which time doctors believed that he had only three to seven days to live, before finally being released in October.

According to OE24, the Mercedes non-executive director became ill during a family holiday in Ibiza over the Christmas/New Year period and is now in the intensive care unit of Vienna AKH.

However, the move appears to be a precautionary one made in light of Lauda’s continuing rehabilitation from the 2018 surgery.

The OE24 report suggests that the 69-year-old could in fact be released from hospital in as little as three to four days.