James Hunt

James Simon Wallis Hunt (born 29th August, 1947 in Belmont, Surrey, United Kingdom, died 15th June, 1993 in Wimbledon, United Kingdom) was a British racing driver famous for his appearances in Formula One.

A style icon in his native Great Britain, Hunt's indulgent lifestyle made him one of the most intriguing characters in Grand Prix racing history.

Early Career

Like many of his contemporaries, Hunt began his motorsport career racing in saloon cars - racing his own Mini Cooper to some moderate success before stepping into single-seaters in the late 1960s.

Formula One

1976-: Brabham

By 1976, Hunt was racing for the Martini-backed Brabham team alongside Italian driver Lella Lombardi. His season was a moderate success, taking points at the opening round of the season.

The BT45 proved to be a decent car, but by virtue of not being at one of the 'big-three' teams in Formula One (Ferrari, McLaren and Lotus), Hunt would often be scrapping with the Ligier of Jacques Laffite for the lower points scoring positions, a fact not helped by the unreliable Alfa Romeo 115-12 in the back. In fact, Hunt's best result of the season - a second place in France - was behind his French rival in a race where the Ferrari team had withdrawn due to the death of Niki Lauda. Hunt would finish third on the road, but Henri Pescarolo's disqualification for rather ironically forcing Lella Lombardi off the road promoted Hunt to second after the race.

As well as his second place in France, he also took a pair of third places in the Soviet Union and Canada, with the latter coming after a storming drive in tricky conditions. In general, Hunt's season would feature brilliant drives that ended in engine failure, such as a potential podium run in Italy ruined by the unreliabilty of the Alfa Romeo engine. All in all, this was enough for 6th place in the Driver's Championship with 21 points.

Despite rumours to the contrary, Hunt continued with Brabham into 1977, now in the second year of his contract. Things looked optimistic at Brabham, with updates to the car and the abandonment of the Alfa Romeo engines in favour of Ford Cosworth DFV powerplants. Lombardi would again start the season as Hunt's team-mate, but after an appalling drive in the Argentine Grand Prix Brabham had finally had enough, and the Italian would be replaced with with one-time Grand Prix winner and Lotus refugee, Patrick Tambay.

Hunt's season would get off to a moderately decent start, taking a third place in the South African Grand Prix. Controversy would follow at the United States Grand Prix West, with Hunt involved in a collision with Thomas Nurmester and Carlos Reutemann, somehow driving into a spinning Nurmester and retiring from the race. Hunt would go on to finish fourth in the Spanish Grand Prix before the FISA Court of Appeal had deliberated over Hunt's punishment, which was to be a suspended one race ban. Hunt responded to this in typical fashion, calling it "utter bollocks", before going on to take a sixth place finish in Belgium. Monaco would see him in contention for a second third place of the year, but an all too familiar foe reared its ugly head - engine reliability. Brabham would majorly upgrade the BT45 to BT45C spec ahead of the British Grand Prix, leading Hunt's fortunes changing - leading home a Brabham 1-2 in his home race as well as second places in the German Grand Prix and Japanese Grand Prix.

1978 saw Hunt joined by Ulsterman John Watson in the second Brabham. Hunt's season began well, taking a strong win in the second race of the season in South Africa. At the Mugello Grand Prix, Brabham introduced a controversial revision to their car that was dubbed the 'fan car'. Hunt dominated the race in the car to win but the car was ruled illegal from the next race, a decision Hunt famously disagreed with. The rest of the season did not prove as fruitful, Hunt's best finish being a solitary 4th place at the Dutch Grand Prix. A crash at the Austrian Grand Prix two races later saw Hunt sidelined for the Italian Grand Prix. It was at this race that Hunt accepted an offer from the BBC to partner Murray Walker in the commentary booth for the first time, the event marking Hunt's commentary debut and teasing the duo's famous partnership that would develop in the 1980s. Hunt would take a further 5th place in the final two rounds of the season, closing out a 1978 season which the Brabham team felt the car had not lived up to it's early potential.

Hunt entered 1979 with confidence, announcing that the season would be "his year" in the British press. Gone was Watson as Hunt's team-mate, being replaced by the Brazilian Nelson Piquet who made his first full-season appearance in Formula One. However, Brabham's new-for-1979 BT47 was delayed until the South African Grand Prix, forcing Hunt and new team-mate Piquet to drive the old BT46 for the two first rounds. The car proved to be good enough to fight for the final points-paying positions, with Hunt having the better reliability of the Brabham pair, coming home for a 5th in Argentina and a 6th in Brzil.

Later Life

Hunt would take on a career in broadcasting in later life, commentating on motorsport for the BBC right up until his death in 1993. He died of a heart attack in his Wimbledon home.

Complete Formula 1 Results

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Points	WDC
1976	Martini Racing	Brabham BT45	Alfa Romeo 115-12 3.0 F12	ARG 4	RSA Ret	USW 5	ESP Ret	BEL 7	MON Ret	SOV 3	FRA 2	GBR Ret	GER 13†	AUT 6	NED Ret	ITA 14†	CAN 3	USA 6	JPN 10		21	6th
1977	Martini Racing	Brabham BT45B	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	ARG Ret	RSA 3	USW Ret	ESP 4	BEL 6	MON Ret	FRA Ret	TUS Ret	SOV Ret									35	6th
		Brabham BT45C											GBR 1	NED Ret	GER 2	AUT 4	ITA 5	CAN Ret	USA Ret	JPN 2
1978	Martini Racing	Brabham BT46	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	ARG Ret	RSA 1	USW 11	ESP Ret	BEL 5	MON 4	SUI Ret		GBR 11†	FRA Ret	NED 4	GER 5	AUT Ret	ITA INJ	CAN 5	USA Ret		30	7th
		Brabham BT46B									MUG 1
1979	Parmalat Racing Team	Brabham BT46C	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	ARG 5	BRA 6																7*	5th*
		Brabham BT47				RSA 9	USW 3	ESP 12†	BEL	MON	EUR	SMR	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	CAN	USA