James Hunt

James Simon Wallis Hunt (29 August 1947 – 15 June 1993) was a British racing driver from England who won the Formula One World Championship in. Hunt's often action packed exploits on track earned him the nickname "Hunt the Shunt." After retiring from driving, Hunt became a media commentator and businessman. Never one to take himself too seriously, Hunt endeared himself to the British public with his charisma and charm, and in the process brought a whole new fanbase to the sport of Formula One.

Beginning his racing career in touring car racing, Hunt progressed into Formula Three where he attracted the attention of the Hesketh Racing team and was soon taken under their wing. Hunt entered Formula One in, driving a March 731 entered by the Hesketh Racing team. He went on to win for Hesketh, driving their own Hesketh 308 car, in both World Championship and non-Championship races, before joining the McLaren team at the end of. In his first year with McLaren, Hunt won the World Drivers' Championship, and he remained with the team for a further two years, although with less success, before moving to the Wolf team in early. However, following a string of races in which he failed to finish, Hunt retired from driving halfway through the 1979 season.

He is latterly remembered for his commentary career for the BBC, which he took up following his retirement. Hunt was known for his knowledge, insights, dry sense of humour and his criticism of drivers whom he believed were not trying hard enough which in the process, brought him a whole new fanbase.

Early life
James Hunt was born in Belmont, Sutton, Surrey as the second child of Sue and Wallis Hunt, a successful stockbroker. His parents were brought up in strict Victorian environments and worked hard to maintain displine in the family. He had an older sister, Sally, three younger brothers, Peter, Timothy and David along with one young sister, Georgina. The family lived in a flat in Cheam, Surrey and moved to a home Sutton when Hunt was 11 and then to a larger home in Belmont. As a child, Hunt had a personality of being persistenly rebellious and had violent tantrums. As an adult, Hunt acknowledged that anger dissipated very fast with himself. By the age of 10, his parents believed that Hunt had started smoking. His parents tried to persuade him to stop but with no effect. Later on, Hunt had learned to drive on a farm in Pembrokeshire, Wales whilst on a family holiday. He was driving a tractor which was demonstrated by the owner. He found changing gears frustrating because of a lack of strength required.

Before his 5th birthday, Hunt enrolled at a nursery class at Ambleside. He was educated at Westerleigh School in Hastings, East Sussex from 1955 and later Wellington College in Crowthorne, Berkshire, and originally professed the intention of becoming a doctor. In school, Hunt played for the Westerleigh cricket team and for two years, played in football as a goalkeeper. He entered a tennis tournament at the age of 12 for the under-16's and lost out in one match making Hunt not accept defeat. In his childhood, he had been fascinated with animals and birds which his family supported. Before his 18th birthday he was taken by a friend to see a motor race and Hunt was instantly hooked.

Early career
Hunt's own racing career started off in a racing Mini, before 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 spectacular accidents, hence his well-earned nickname of Hunt The Shunt. Hunt was involved in a controversial incident with Dave Morgan during a battle for second position in the Formula Three Daily Express Trophy race at Crystal Palace on 3 October 1970. Having banged wheels earlier in a very closely fought race, Morgan attempted to pass Hunt on the outside of South Tower Corner on the final lap, but instead the cars collided and crashed out of the race. Hunt's car came to rest in the middle of the track, minus two wheels. Hunt got out, ran over to Morgan and furiously pushed him to the ground, which earned him severe official disapproval.

Hunt's career continued in the works March team, but in May 1972 it was announced by the team that he had been dropped from the STP-March Formula 3 team and replaced by Jochen Mass. This followed a period characterized by a series of mechanical failures, and which culminated in a decision by Hunt, against the express instructions of March director Max Mosley, to race at Monaco in a March from a different team, unexpectedly vacated by driver Jean-Claude Alzerat, after Hunt's own March had first broken down and then been hit by another competitor in a practice lap.

After the termination of his racing relationship with STP-March, Hunt joined 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 announced that they might as well fail in F1 as in F2, as it wasn't significantly more expensive.

Beginnings with Hesketh: 1973-1975
Hesketh purchased a March 731 chassis, and it was developed by Harvey Postlethwaite. The team was initially not taken seriously by rivals, who saw the Hesketh team as party goers enjoying the glamour of Formula One. The Hesketh March proved much more competitive than the works March cars, and their best result was second place at the 1973 United States Grand Prix. Hunt made a brief venture into Endurance car race at the Kyalami Nine Hours, where he was parterned with Derek Bell with the pair finishing second.

For the season Hesketh Racing built a car, inspired by the March, called the Hesketh 308, but an accompanying V12 engine never materialised. Hunt's first test of the car came at Silverstone and found it more stable than its predecessor, the March 731. Hunt was retained on a £15,000 salary. The Hesketh team captured the public imagination as a car without sponsors' markings, a teddy-bear badge and a devil-may-care team ethos, which belied the fact that their engineers were highly competent. In Argentina, Hunt qualified 5th and led briefly before being overtaken by Ronnie Peterson before Hunt spun off the track and eventually retired due to engine failure. In South Africa, Hunt retired from 5th place from a broken driveshaft. Hunt's season highlight was a victory at the BRDC International Trophy non-Championship race at Silverstone, against the majority of the regular F1 field.

Hunt scored a 6th in Brazil. He retired with an engine failure in South Africa. In Spain, Hunt led the first six laps before colliding with a barrier with the same cause of retirement in Monaco. He had a further two retirements in Belgium and Sweden which were both down to mechanical failures. Hunt's first win came in the 1975 Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort. He finished fourth in the Championship that year, but Lord Hesketh had run out of funds and could not find a sponsor for his team. With little time left before the 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 team management signed Hunt to McLaren for the next season on a $200,000 contract – 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. Hunt wore t-shirt and jeans and was often barefoot for sponsor-led functions with world leaders, chairmen of businesses and media moguls.

World Championship year: 1976
1976 was Hunt's best year; the season proved to be both dramatic and controversial. He drove the McLaren M23 to six Grands Prix wins. After a slow start in which rival Niki Lauda pulled out a vast points lead, Hunt was disqualified and later reinstated as the winner of the 1976 Spanish Grand Prix for driving a car adjudged to be 1.8 cm too wide. Victory at the British Grand Prix was disallowed after an accident at the first corner that Hunt was 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 were forced to start from the rear of the grid. At the penultimate round in the United States, Hunt started from pole and took victory to bring the title fight to Japan.

Lauda's near-fatal accident in Germany, which caused him to miss the following two races, allowed Hunt to close the gap to the Austrian. As they went to the final round in Japan Hunt was just three points behind. The Japanese Grand Prix was torrentially wet, and Lauda retired early on in the race, unable to blink because of facial burns from his accident in Germany. After leading most of the race Hunt suffered a puncture, then had a delayed pitstop and finally received mixed pit signals from his team. But he managed to finish in third place, scoring four points, enough for him to win the World Championship by one point. Hunt was the last British Formula One champion until Nigel Mansell won the 1992 championship for Williams.

Decline and retirement: 1977-1979
The 1977 Formula One season did not start well for Hunt. The McLaren M26 was problematic in the early part of the season, during which Niki Lauda and Mario Andretti took a considerable lead in the Drivers' Championship. Towards the end of the year Hunt and the McLaren M26 were quicker than any rival combination other than Mario Andretti and the Lotus 78. Hunt won in Silverstone after trailing the Brabham of John Watson for 25 laps. He then took a further victory at Watkins Glen. In Fuji, Hunt won the race but did not attend the podium ceremony resulting in a fine for $20,000. He finished fifth in the World Drivers' Championship.

Before the season Hunt had high hopes to win a second world championship; however, in thsi season he scored only eight world championship points. Lotus had developed effective ground effect aerodynamics with their 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 solve the car's problems, Hunt's motivation was low. His inexperienced new team-mate Patrick Tambay even outqualified Hunt at one race.

James Hunt was greatly affected by Ronnie Peterson's fatal crash in the 1978 Italian Grand Prix. At the start of the race there was a huge accident going into the first corner. Ronnie Peterson's Lotus was pushed into the barriers and burst into flames. Hunt, together with Patrick Depailler and Clay Regazzoni, rescued Peterson from the car, but Peterson died one day later in hospital. 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, nor did he cause any other car to do so. Hunt believed, however, that it was Patrese's muscling past that caused the McLaren and Lotus to touch, but Patrese argues that he was already well ahead of the pair before the accident took place.

For Hunt moved to the initially very successful Walter Wolf Racing team for what would be his last, brief, Formula One season. Again he had high hopes to win races and compete for the world championship. However, the team's ground effect car was uncompetitive and Hunt soon lost any enthusiasm for racing. His private life was also becoming increasingly turbulent. At the first race in Argentina, he felt the car was difficult to handle and on a fast lap, the front wing became detached, narrowly striking his helmet. In the race, Hunt retired due to an electrical fault. In Brazil, he retired on lap 6 due to instability under braking caused by a loose steering rack. During qualifying in South Africa, the brakes on his car failed but he managed not to collide with the wall, but only finished 8th in the race. He retired at the Spanish Grand Prix after 26 laps. At Zolder, a new Wolf WR8 was raced but Hunt crashed into a barrier hard enough to bounce back onto the track. After failing to finish the 1979 Monaco Grand Prix, the race where six years previously he had made his debut, Hunt made a statement on 8 June 1979 to the press announcing his immediate retirement and walked away from F1 competition citing his situation in the championship. Despite going into retirement, he continued to work to promote his personal sponsors Marlboro and Olympus.

Attempted comebacks
In 1980, Hunt nearly made a comeback with McLaren at the United States Grand Prix West asking for $1 million for the race. Sponsor Marlboro offered half the figure but negotiations ended after Hunt injuring his knee whilst skiing. In 1982, Bernie Ecclestone owner of the Brabham team, offered Hunt a salary of £2.6 million for the season but was rejected by Hunt. In 1990, Hunt was in financial trouble and considered a comeback with the Williams team. He had tested on the Paul Ricard Circuit a few months prior to test modern cars and was several seconds off the pace and believed he would be physically prepared. Hunt attempted to persuade John Hogan for support for the possible comeback and presented him with bank statement for proof of being indebted.

Helmet
Hunt's helmet comprised his name in bold letters along with blue, yellow and red stripes on both sides and room for the sponsor Goodyear, all placed onto a black background. Additionally, the blue, yellow and red bands resemble to his later Wellington College school colours. During his comeback year to Formula One in 2012, Kimi Räikkönen sported a James Hunt painted helmet during the Monaco Grand Prix.

Grand Prix
Soon after retirement, in 1979, Hunt was approached by Jonathan Martin, the head of BBC television sport to become a television commentator for the BBC, alongside Murray Walker on the BBC 2 Formula One racing programme Grand Prix, a position which he accepted and continued for the thirteen years until his death. Hunt regularly went into the booth minutes before a race started which had concerned Martin whom he believed that Hunt was "a guy that lived on adrenaline". During his first broadcast, Hunt had not the job seriously and drunk two bottles of wine on his debut broadcast and had a broken leg from a skiing injury which he placed onto Walker's lap. In the commentary booth, the producers only supplied one microphone to Walker and Hunt due to their belief of their commentary speeches being more interesting than the other person. When Hunt wanted the microphone, he would wave his hand of Walker's face which rarely succeeded. He also held out his hand when Walker finished his part of speaking. On one occasion, Hunt wanted the microphone and went up to Walker who had continued for longer than expected and Hunt grabbed him at the collar with Walker having his fist near to Hunt. Viewers were regularly exposed to his knowledge, insights and dry sense of humour during broadcasts, bringing him a whole new fanbase. He was famous for 'rubbishing' drivers he did not think were trying hard enough – during the BBC's live broadcast of the 1989 Monaco Grand Prix he described René Arnoux's comments that non-turbo cars didn't suit the Frenchman's driving skills as "bullshit". He also had a reputation for speaking out against back-markers who held up race leaders and not holding back on any of his commentaries - in sharp contrast to the gentlemanly Walker.

Other than Arnoux, who in his later F1 years as a back marker became a shadow of his former self and was regularly criticised for his 'blocking' by his fellow drivers, fans and the media (including the usually gentlemanly Murray Walker), Hunt's other targets often included Andrea de Cesaris and Riccardo Patrese. During the 1990 San Marino Grand Prix he called de Cesaris an "idiot" after he caused race leader Nigel Mansell to almost spin his Ferrari while lapping the Italian, de Cesaris taking no notice of the fact that Mansell was attempting to lap him under braking going into the Rivazza corner of the Imola circuit.

Mentoring drivers
John Hogan hired Hunt as an adviser and tutor to drivers sponsored by Marlboro instructing them the tactics of driving and the approach to racing. Mika Häkkinen had been one of the most successful drivers because Hunt had been engaged with Hakkinen's discussions about not only racing but about life in general.

Other projects
Hunt made a brief appearance in the 1979 British silent slapstick comedy "The Plank", as well as co-starring with Fred Emney in a Texaco Havoline TV advertisement. He also made an appearance on ITV's Police Camera Action! special Crash Test Racers in 2000; this was one of many interviews to be aired posthumously.

Death
Hunt died in 1993 at the age of 45, of a heart attack at his home in Wimbledon, only hours after proposing marriage to Helen. Two days previously, Hunt cycled from his home to the Television Centre to commentate on the 1993 Canadian Grand Prix.

His burial service included a solo trumpeter playing lively hymns to attempt to raise the spirits of the mourners. The pallbearers at his funeral included his father Wallis, his brothers Tim, Peter, David and Hunt's friend Bubbles Horsley. All of them carried the coffin out of the church and into the cortège which drove two miles to the Putney Vale Crematorium where he was cremated. After the service, most of the mourners went to Peter Hunt's home to open a claret from 1922, the year of Wallis Hunt's birth. The claret was given to him by James in 1982 as a present on Wallis's 60th birthday

Personal life
Hunt was notorious for his unconventional behaviour on and off the track, having drugs and sex often minutes before a race. 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, playboy drivers and was celebrated for his English eccentricity (which included dining with his pet Alsatian dog, Oscar, at expensive Mayfair restaurants). He also was a great womaniser, sleeping with over 5,000.

Early in their careers Hunt and Lauda shared a one-bedroom flat in London, 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, Hunt was neighbours with Jody Scheckter, and they also 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. 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 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.

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 an extensive user of alcohol, and also cocaine and 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 Superstars more than once.

Hunt fought depression and alcoholism and despite severe financial setbacks in his business life with the loss of £180,000 investing in Lloyd's of London, his mid-40s had seemed that he had 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.

Relationships
Hunt met his first wife Suzy Miller in 1974 in Spain. A few weeks after their initial meeting, he proposed. Hunt held the engagement party at the apartment of his brother Peter to the guests' surprise. The couple married on 18 October 1974 at the Brompton Oratory in Kensington. By the end of 1975, Suzy had left Hunt for the actor Richard Burton to whom he paid the divorce settlement of $1 million which was finalised in June 1976 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. He met his second wife, Sarah Lomax in September 1982 while she was on a holiday in Spain with friends. Hunt started dating Lomax when she arrived back in England and dated throughout the winter. Hunt and Lomax were married on 17 December 1983 in Marlborough, Wiltshire. Hunt had arrived late for the service with proceedings delayed further when his brother Peter went to a shop to purchase a tie for Hunt. The marriage resulted in two children, Tom and Freddie. The couple separated in October 1988 but continued to live together for the best interests of their children. Lomax and Hunt were divorced in November 1989 on the grounds of adultery committed by Hunt.

Legacy
In the book, James Hunt: The Biography, John Hogan said of Hunt: "James was the only driver I've ever seen who had the vaguest idea about what it actually takes to be a racing driver." After winning the world championship in 1976, Hunt had inspired many teenagers to take up motor racing. In early 2007, Formula One driver Kimi Räikkönen entered and won a snowmobile race in his native Finland under the name James Hunt. Räikkönen has openly admired the lifestyles of 1970s race car drivers such as Hunt.

A Celebration of the Life of James Hunt was held on 29 September 1993 at St. James Church, Piccadilly. The service was attended by 600 people and conducted by Reverend Andrew Studdert-Kennedy. The service included readings from Wallis and Sue Hunt from the book of Ecclesiates, Chapter III and Hunt's sister Sally Jones read Hilaire Belloc's poem 'Jim'. Innes Ireland read Rudyard Kipling's poem 'If' and Helen Dyson read Psalm LXXXIV. Nigel Davison, Director of Music and Master in charge of Running Wellington College prefaced the second reading.

In popular culture

 * Hunt will be portrayed by Chris Hemsworth in the 2013 Ron Howard film Rush about the 1976 Formula One season.

Complete Formula One World Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)