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6 things that made James Hunt F1’s coolest driver
In the week of what would’ve been his 70th birthday, we recall the best bits about James Simon Wallis Hunt, F1’s original wild child.
James Hunt – Victory in Zandvoort 1975
© Getty Images
While other drivers in Formula One folklore live long in the memory because of their supreme skill behind the wheel – names like Juan Manuel Fangio, Jim Clark, Jochen Rindt and Ayrton Senna – James Hunt’s legacy has largely endured because of the playboy lifestyle that he came to embody. Although Hunt won the Formula One World Championship in 1976, an achievement many better-thought-of drivers have tried and failed to match, today he’s more often remembered for his controversial T-shirt messages, beer accessories and cigarettes that always seemed to be on show when he was out of the car.
Here are our six reasons to remember James Hunt for the playboy and the terrific driver he was.
1. He did post-race interviews like no one else
Watch a typical James Hunt interview, on the podium of the 1976 British GP, in the video below, just after the race. Pausing at one point during his relaxed delivery of answers to questions to take a cigarette from a bystander, it's safe to say you don't see press conferences like Hunt's in modern-day F1!
2. He was a skilled and tough – but respectful – driver
But as Ron Howard showed in his 2013 film Rush – chronicling the dramatic fight between Hunt and Niki Lauda for the 1976 Formula One World Championship – there was a deeper side to Hunt that the public rarely saw. On the track Hunt was a tough competitor.
"There are good drivers and bad ones, and then there are the really talented ones who are difficult to beat, and James was one of them," Lauda once said. ''We respected each other very much because in the old days to drive 300kph side by side towards a corner – if someone makes a mistake – one or both are killed. Hunt was someone you could rely on to be really precise."
The last scene in the movie, see below player, suggests how much both drivers respected each other.
3. He was easygoing but competitive
Despite his relaxed nature, Hunt was famously competitive, particularly in his favourite hobbies of squash and tennis – and also apparently in board games.
4. He didn’t shy away from showing off his private life
The other thing Hunt's famous for, of course, is the string of attractive women he dated, not least his wife Suzy – who later left Hunt for the actor Richard Burton – and his girlfriend Jane Birbeck.
Nicki Lauda and James Hunt share the spoils
© Rolls Press/Popperfoto/Getty Images
Hunt is ready to go in 1976 at Anderstorp
© Bob Harmeyer/Getty Images
Hunt was hugely competitive
© Michael Cole/Corbis/Getty Images
5. He carried on being a maverick after he stopped racing
After a guest commentary at the 1979 British GP, Hunt accepted the offer to continue to work for the BBC, and he did so for 13 years until his untimely death in 1993, sometimes swearing or making controversial comments on live TV that maintained his unconventional reputation. At the 1989 Monaco GP, Hunt remarked in live commentary that René Arnoux's excuse that his slowness was because his Ligier didn't have a turbo any more was "bullshit". A pause followed before lead commentator Murray Walker carried on as if Hunt had said nothing!
Kimi Räikkönen pays tribute to Hunt
© Andrew Ferraro/LAT Photographic
6. Other big names still honour Hunt’s memory today
Nearly a quarter of a century after his death, others continue to honour his legend, especially 2007 World Champion Kimi Räikkönen, who famously once entered a skidoo race under the pseudonym 'James Hunt' and dressed as a gorilla. More conventionally, he carried Hunt's name on his 2012 Monaco GP helmet.
