James Hunt
| File:James Hunt.jpg | |
| Formula One World Championship career | |
|---|---|
| Nationality |  British |
| Active years | 1973 - 1979 |
| Teams | Hesketh, McLaren, Wolf |
| Entries | 93 |
| Championships | 1 |
| Wins | 10 |
| Podiums | 23 |
| Pole positions | 14 |
| Fastest laps | 8 |
| First entry | 1973 Monaco Grand Prix |
| First win | 1975 Dutch Grand Prix |
| Last win | 1977 Japanese Grand Prix |
| Last entry | 1979 Monaco Grand Prix |
James Simon Wallis Hunt (29 August 1947 – 15 June 1993) was an English racing driver and Formula 1 world champion and subsequently a commentator and businessman. Never one to take himself too seriously, Hunt endeared himself to the British public with his charisma and charm and brought a whole new audience to Formula One in the mid 1970's.
The son of a successful stockbroker, James Hunt was born in Belmont and educated firstly at Westerleigh School in Hastings and later Wellington College in Berkshire, and originally studied to be a doctor. But just before his 18th birthday, he was taken by a friend to see a motor race, and Hunt was instantly hooked.
Early career
Starting off by building his own fast but rather ramshackle racing Mini, and then graduating to Formula Ford and Formula Three, Hunt was noticed as a fast driver with an aggressive tail-happy driving style, but one prone to having lots of spectacular accidents, hence his well earned nickname of Hunt The Shunt. Hunt was involved in a controversial incident with Dave Morgan in a 1970 race at Crystal Palace - Morgan took both cars out of the race and Hunt furiously punched him, which earned him severe official disapproval. Hunt's career continued in the works March team, but that disintegrated and he soon fell in with the Hesketh team, where he was seen as a kindred spirit. The team initially entered Hunt in Formula Two with little success but Lord Hesketh decided that they might as well fail in F1 as in F2, as it wasn't significantly more expensive (and it allowed Lord Hesketh to parade his yacht, helicopter, Porsche and Rolls Royce in front of a more appreciative audience). A March 731 chassis was purchased, and developed by Harvey Postlethwaite.
The team wasn't taken seriously by rivals, who saw the Hesketh outfit as a group of party animals lapping up the F1 lifestyle. But the car was much more competitive than the works efforts, scoring several remarkable results, including a second place at the US Grand Prix. Hesketh Racing built a car inspired by the March appeared in 1974 called the Hesketh 308, but an accompanying V12 engine never materialised. The Hesketh team captured the public imagination - the car without any sponsor markings, a teddy-bear badge and the atmosphere of devil-may-care fun hid the fact that they were an extremely competent outfit and Hunt started to thrive. The season highlight was a stunning victory by Hunt at the BRDC International Trophy non-Championship race at Silverstone, against a field that included the majority of the contemporary F1 glitterati.
His first World Championship win came in 1975, in the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort. He finished 4th in the championship that year, but Lord Hesketh had run out of funds and could not find a sponsor for his maverick team. With little time left before the 1976 season, Hunt was desperately looking for a drive until Emerson Fittipaldi left McLaren and joined his brother's Copersucar-Fittipaldi outfit. With no other top drivers available, the McLaren management reluctantly signed Hunt with McLaren for the next season - he was one of the cheapest World Champions ever (Keke Rosberg in 1982 similarly found a drive at the last minute). Hunt immediately caused a stir by refusing to sign a clause in his contract which stipulated he wore suits to sponsor functions. Throughout his tenure, Hunt attended functions with world leaders, chairmen of businesses and media moguls in t-shirt and jeans and usually barefoot.
World Championship and lifestyle
1976 was Hunt's best year. He used the McLaren M23 to win six Grands Prix in an incredibly turbulent season. After a slow start, he was disqualified and later reinstated as the winner of the Spanish Grand Prix for driving a McLaren that was supposedly 1.8cm too wide. A seventh win at the British Grand Prix was disallowed after a row over an accident at the first corner that Hunt had got involved in. At the Italian Grand Prix, the Texaco fuel that McLaren used was tested and although apparently legal, the Penske cars, running the same fuel, had a much higher octane level than allowed and subsequently both teams had their cars forced to start from the rear.
Niki Lauda's near-fatal accident in Germany and disqualification in Canada allowed Hunt to close the gap to the Austrian and as they went to the final round in Japan, Hunt was just 3 points behind. The Japanese Grand Prix was torrentially wet, and Lauda refused to race, saying the conditions were too dangerous. After leading most of the race James suffered a puncture, then had a delayed pitstop and finally received mixed pit signals from his team. But he managed to splash back to third place (4 points), enough for him to win the World Championship by just one point.
Early in their careers, Hunt and Lauda had shared a one bedroomed flat in London together, and were close friends off the track. Lauda in his autobiography To Hell and Back described Hunt as an 'open, honest to God pal.' Whilst living in Spain as a tax exile, James was neighbours with Jody Scheckter, and they came to be very good friends, with Hunt giving Scheckter the nickname Fletcher after the crash prone bird in the book Jonathan Livingston Seagull. Another close friend was Ronnie Peterson, to the surprise of many insiders in F1. Peterson was a quiet and shy man, whilst Hunt was exactly the opposite, but their contrasting personalities made them very close off the track. It was Hunt who discovered the brilliant Gilles Villeneuve, whom he met after being soundly beaten by him in a Formula Atlantic race in 1976. Hunt then arranged for the young Canadian to make his Grand Prix debut with McLaren in 1977. Villeneuve came to rely on Hunt for advice and support during his career and Hunt was particularly upset after Villeneuve's death in 1982.
Hunt's lifestyle was as controversial as some of the events on track. He was associated with a succession of beautiful women, he preferred to turn up to formal functions in bare feet and jeans, he was a casual user of marijuana, and he lived an informal life near the beach in Marbella. He was regularly seen attending nightclubs and discos, and was generally the life and soul of the party. Hunt was an expert ball game player, and regularly played squash and tennis. He also played on the F1 drivers' cricket and football teams and appeared on the BBC's Sporting Superstars more than once. He was also musically inclined, being able to play the trumpet and piano well. It was often assumed that he did not take racing seriously enough, yet through 1976 and 1977 the results continued to come. He famously wore a badge on his racing overalls that read Sex - Breakfast of Champions.
The following season started unlucky for Hunt, although he won three GPs and several podiums and eventually placed well in the Championship. The McLaren M26 was problematic in the early part of the season, and Hunt's apathy towards car testing made for a difficult period of races, during which Niki Lauda and Mario Andretti managed to build up a considerable points tally that Hunt could not overcome. Eventually he knuckled down to sort the car's problems, but unreliability during 1977 cost him a far better result.
Decline and retirement
The following season marked a sharp decline for Hunt and he scored hardly any points. Lotus had perfected ground effect aerodynamics with their stunning Lotus 79 car, and McLaren were slow to respond. The M26 was revised as a ground effect car midway through the season but it did not work, and without a test driver to sort the car, Hunt's motivation plummeted. He was even being outperformed on occasion by his inexperienced new team-mate Patrick Tambay. Any motivation James had left was snuffed out by the crash he and his friend Ronnie Peterson were involved in at the start of the 1978 Italian Grand Prix.
The start of the race was chaotic, with half the field starting the race while still completing the warm-up lap. There was a huge accident going into the first corner and Peterson's Lotus was shunted into the barriers and burst into flames. Hunt was the man who heroically rescued him from the car, but the Swede died one day later because of an embolism. Hunt took his friend's death particularly hard and for years afterwards blamed Riccardo Patrese for the accident. Video evidence of the crash has since shown that Patrese did not touch Hunt or Peterson's cars, absolving him of any blame.
For 1979 Hunt moved to the initially very successful Wolf team for what would be his last Formula One season, but Hunt's 1979 season with Wolf was perfunctory. The team's ground effect car was uncompetitive and Hunt had lost any enthusiasm for racing. His private life was also becoming increasingly turbulent. After failing to finish the Monaco Grand Prix, the race where six years perviously he had made his debut, Hunt made a statement to the press announcing his immediate retirement and walked away from F1 competition forever.
Later career
Soon after retirement, Hunt became an outspoken and entertaining TV commentator for the BBC alongside Murray Walker. Viewers were regularly treated to his knowledge, insights and dry sense of humour during broadcasts, bringing him a whole new fanbase. He was famous for 'rubbishing' drivers he didn't think were trying hard enough, and although harsh-sounding, his comments were usually in good humour - he once described René Arnoux's comments that non-turbo cars didn't suit the Frenchman's driving skills as, "bullshit" while live on the BBC. He was also skilled at reading a race and predicting outcomes to situations on-track. He briefly considered making a comeback to F1 in the mid-80's, and even tested privately for Williams setting competitive lap times, but eventually changed his mind.
Hunt fought depression and alcoholism and despite severe financial setbacks in his business life, approaching his mid 40s it seemed that he had finally overcome many of his demons (particularly alcohol and tobacco) and had finally achieved happiness. Happiness to Hunt included his new partner Helen, his clean health, his bicycle, his casual approach to dress, his two sons and his Austin A35 van. In an unlikely twist Hunt became a champion breeder of budgerigars and parrots. One of his parrots, Humbert was slated to appear as Captain Hook's bird in a West End production of Peter Pan, but was returned to Hunt because of the bird's intolerance to the actor playing Captain Hook.
This was however not to last long - Hunt died at the age of 45 of a heart attack at his home in Wimbledon, sadly, only hours after having proposed to Helen.[citation needed]
Hunt was one of the most charismatic drivers, notorious for his unconventional behaviour on and off the track. Having been part of Formula One when the series was consolidating, and when it was conquering the attention of the motor sport press, Hunt became the epitome of unruly, brilliant, playboy drivers and was celebrated for his English eccentricity (which included dining with his Alsatian, Oscar, at expensive Mayfair restaurants). Many latter-day drivers will be compared with Hunt for their antics, among them Eddie Irvine.
He also made an appearance on ITV's Police, Camera, Action! special Crash Test Racers in 2000; this was one of many posthumous interviews aired.
Hunt's son Freddie competed in his first car race on 29th October 2006, and finished fourth overall. It is said he used the race to evaluate if he wished to become a racing driver professionally.
In the game "Roller Coaster Tycoon 3" if you change one of the peep's name to "James Hunt" a Doom Buggy will appear and James Hunt will be in it.
Complete Formula One results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)
| Year | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | Team | WDC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1973 | March | ARG | BRA | RSA | ESP | BEL | MON Ret |
SWE | FRA 6 |
GBR 4 |
DUT 3 |
DEU | AUT Ret |
ITA | CAN 7 |
USA 2 |
March | 8th | 14 | ||
| 1974 | March/Hesketh | ARG Ret |
BRA 9 |
RSA Ret |
ESP 10 |
BEL Ret |
MON Ret |
SWE 3 |
DUT Ret |
FRA Ret |
GBR Ret |
DEU Ret |
AUT 3 |
ITA Ret |
CAN 4 |
USA 3 |
March/Hesketh | 8th | 15 | ||
| 1975 | Hesketh | ARG 2 |
BRA 6 |
RSA Ret |
ESP Ret |
MON Ret |
BEL Ret |
SWE Ret |
DUT 1 |
FRA 2 |
GBR 4 |
DEU Ret |
AUT 2 |
ITA 5 |
USA 4 |
Hesketh | 4th | 37 | |||
| 1976 | McLaren | BRA Ret |
RSA 2 |
USAW Ret |
ESP 1 |
BEL Ret |
MON Ret |
SWE 5 |
FRA 1 |
GBR DSQ |
DEU 1 |
AUT 4 |
DUT 1 |
ITA Ret |
CAN 1 |
USA 1 |
JPN 3 |
McLaren | 1st | 69 | |
| 1977 | McLaren | ARG Ret |
BRA 2 |
SAF 4 |
USAW 7 |
ESP Ret |
MON Ret |
BEL 7 |
SWE 12 |
FRA 3 |
GBR 1 |
GER 3 |
AUT Ret |
DUT Ret |
ITA Ret |
USA 1 |
CAN Ret |
JPN 1 |
McLaren | 4th | 44 |
| 1978 | McLaren | ARG 4 |
BRA Ret |
SAF Ret |
USAW Ret |
MON Ret |
BEL Ret |
ESP 6 |
SWE 8 |
FRA 3 |
GBR Ret |
GER DSQ |
AUT Ret |
DUT 10 |
ITA Ret |
USA 7 |
CAN Ret |
McLaren | 13th | 8 | |
| 1979 | Wolf | ARG Ret |
BRA Ret |
SAF 8 |
USAW Ret |
ESP Ret |
BEL Ret |
MON Ret |
FRA | GBR | GER | AUT | DUT | ITA | CAN | USA | Wolf | 22nd | 0 |