1976 F1 Season ⚡ Tested

James Hunt was his antithesis. The McLaren driver was a lion-maned rock star in a fireproof suit. He chain-smoked before races, admitted to drinking heavily, and famously quipped that sex was "a good relaxer before a race." Where Lauda calculated, Hunt improvised. Where Lauda conserved, Hunt attacked. To Hunt, racing was a glorious, bloody circus, and he was the ringmaster. He was adored by the British press, who saw in him a throwback to the daredevil heroes of a bygone era.

The tifosi, who had once viewed him as a machine, wept openly. James Hunt, watching from the pits, reportedly shook his head in disbelief. “The man has titanium balls,” he said. The championship, which had seemed a formality for Hunt, was now a gladiatorial contest once more. The season came down to one race: the Japanese Grand Prix at Mount Fuji. Lauda led the championship by three points. To win the title, Hunt needed to finish ahead of Lauda. Simple arithmetic, impossible conditions. 1976 f1 season

Hunt, meanwhile, was fighting through the deluge. He was second, chasing the American Mario Andretti. He drove with a kind of controlled savagery, his car aquaplaning at every corner. On lap 63, Andretti’s Lotus broke down. Hunt took the lead. James Hunt was his antithesis