Grand Prix Legends – James Hunt

James Simon Wallis Hunt was born on 29th August 1947, the son of a very successful Stockbroker. Educated to a high level, Hunt was originally due to study as a Doctor. However, a friend took him to see a motor race on his 18th Birthday, and there the obsession began.

Starting off racing Mini’s, Hunt progressed through the ranks to Formula 3, where he was noticed for his agressive driving style by Lord Hesketh, who later recruited him to his own Formula 3 team. Hesketh Racing however, were no ordinary team, their objective was simply to have ‘as much fun as possible’.

Despite his reputation, ‘Hunt the Shunt’ as he was affectionately known, mainly for his penchant for writing off cars, made his debut in Formula One at the 1973 Monaco Grand Prix. However, both Hunt himself, and the Hesketh team were not taken seriously by their rivals, mainly due to their Playboy lifestyle. The team would all arrive at races in Rolls Royces, stay in Five Star hotels wherever they went, and drink copius amounts of champagne.

Hunt was running 6th in his debut race at Monaco, before having to retire due to engine failure. The rest of that season remained unsuccessful for both Hunt and the team, their first success not materialising until a non-championship BRDC International Trophy race at Silverstone, where the majority of the F1 field were represented.

It was in 1975 that Hunt secured his first Formula One win, at the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort. A smattering of points finishes throughout the season saw Hunt finish fourth in the Championship. Sadly, it seems that two seasons of opulent flamboyancy by Hunt, Hesketh and the team, had stretched the budget sufficiently, forcing Lord Hesketh to call an end to his involvement in Formula One, after failing to find a sponsor for his team.

Hunt was without a seat in Formula One in the build up to the 1976 season, until Emerson Fittipaldi decided to leave McLaren. With no other top drivers available, McLaren conceeded that Hunt was ‘their best option’, and signed him to the team.

It proved to be a shrewd move on the Woking based team’s part, Hunt took the McLaren M23 to six Grands Prix victories that season, but it was a season frought with problems. Hunt won the 1976 Spanish Grand Prix, but was disqualified due to a car that was 1.8cm too wide, a decision that was later overturned.

Hunt was once again steeped in contoversy at the British Grand Prix in the same season, being disqualified from winning the race after an accident in the first corner which was attributed to him. Once again, Hunt suffered at the Italian Grand Prix, following a problem with octane levels in the fuel, Hunt was forced to start from the rear of the grid.

The season progressed to the Nurburgring for the German Grand Prix, another race, unfortunately, where there was controversy and incident. Niki Lauda suffered a horrendous crash, his Ferrari 312T2 snapped to the right, spun through the fence into an earth mound, rebounding out onto the track. Sadly, two drivers were unable to avoid the flame engulfed Ferrari, Harald Ertl and Brett Lunger both collided with Lauda’s stricken car. Joined by Merzario, who had stopped after seeing the wreck, the three drivers fought to get Lauda out of the flaming car.

Lauda had suffered serious burns, and was left fighting for his life in a German specialist burns unit; meanwhile after a restart, Hunt secured victory at the Nurburgring, closing the lead Lauda had developed in the Drivers’ Championship. Lauda’s exclusion from the following two races due to his injuries, allowed Hunt to close the gap further still, and the title was all down to the final round in Japan, with Hunt just three points behind Lauda.

The Japanese Grand Prix was a horribly wet affair, Lauda had returned to drive the Ferrari, but was forced to retire early in the race, citing that he was unable to blink due the facial burns that he was still suffering.

Hunt led most of the race, but suffered a puncture and had to pit. The stop was delayed, and having received unclear instructions from his crew, Hunt dropped down to third. But a finish in third with four points, was sufficient for Hunt to be crowned World Drivers Champion by a margin of just one point.

The 1977 season saw the beginning of the decline in Hunt’s career. An underperforming McLaren M26 caused Hunt to fall considerably behind rivals Lauda and Andretti, but developments throughout the season saw Hunt being dominant towards the latter part of the season. Unfortunately, it was all too litle too late, Hunt only managed to finish in fifth in the title race.

The 1978 season was no better, Hunt only managed to score 8 World Championship points, mainly due to the fact that Lotus had managed to develop their innovative ‘Ground Effect Aerodynamics’ with the Lotus 79. McLaren were slow to respond, only bringing in their ground effect developments halfway through the season. Unfortunately, it did not work as expected. This caused Hunt to suffer a serious decline in motivation, only compounded by teammate Patrick Tambay outqualifying him in one race.

The 1978 Italian Grand Prix appeared to be the turning point for Hunt. Ronnie Peterson’s Lotus was pushed into the Barriers in turn one, subsequently bursting into flames. Hunt, Patrick Depailler and Clay Regazzoni managed to rescue Peterson from his stricken car. Sadly, Peterson died a day later.

Hunt was particularly good friends with Peterson, and his death had a massive impact on him, he never forgave Riccardo Patrese, who Hunt blamed for causing the accident (it was later proven that Patrese had no part in the accident).

In 1979, with Peterson’s death hanging over him, Hunt moved to the Walter Wolf Racing Team, the car however, was uncompetitive. Six years after his debut in Formula One in Monaco, the 1979 Monaco race would be his last. Hunt failed to finish, and decided to make a statement to the baying press, announcing that he was walking away from the sport.

Hunt was as flamboyant on the track as he was off it. His reputation as a Playboy preceded him, embroiled in speculation regarding beautiful women, alchohol, cocaine and marijuana, he was regularly spotted at nightclubs and discos the world over.

It was during retirement though that Hunt found a real niche as sidekick to Murray Walker, in the commentary box for the BBC F1 coverage. His knowledge and insight into the sport bought Formula One to life for those watching, your author was captivated by his commentary, and quickly became a fan of the sport.

In 1993, Hunt suffered a heart attack, and died prematurely at the age of 45. A sad loss to the sport without question. Had he still been alive today, I am certain he would still have been involved, in whatever guise. In my opinion, a true gent, thoroughly deserving of the title of Grand Prix Legend.