Freddie Hunt recalls the drama behind James Hunt’s 1976 title

James Hunt won the 1976 Formula 1 title by a single point over Niki Lauda. Fifty years later, his son Freddie describes the championship as a series of reversals: points lost after the British Grand Prix, wins in the United States and Canada that reopened the title fight, and a Fuji finale he believes his father mishandled.

In a Formula 1 Icons retrospective marking the anniversary, Freddie calls the season extraordinary for its drama. He describes Hunt as an underdog at the outset: he says nobody knew how quick his father was because Hunt had never had a Formula 1 team-mate before. Hunt took pole in the first race in Brazil, with Lauda qualifying alongside him.

Freddie says he looked it up: Hunt was 17 points behind Lauda with three races remaining. The United States and Canadian Grands Prix stand out in his account. After Hunt had lost the points from the British Grand Prix, Freddie says, he was no longer thinking about the championship; he enjoyed the racing, won both events and created a chance to take the title.

At Fuji, Hunt’s third place in the season-ending Japanese Grand Prix secured the title. Freddie’s memory of the race is less settled: his father had to change tyres when some drivers did not, and Freddie thinks Hunt made a mistake by failing to cool them by driving through puddles. He also wonders whether the other drivers had a harder compound and says he cannot know how much adrenaline or focus played a part.

Freddie says Hunt and Lauda were very good friends, though he himself spoke to Lauda only a few times, mostly on camera. He recounts a pre-Formula 1 story: Hunt was arrested in Germany or Austria, Freddie thinks during their Formula 3 days, and Lauda went to secure his release. In Freddie’s account, Lauda urged police to let Hunt go because “he's racing against me in the morning.”

Asked about his father’s legacy, Freddie says he is proud of what Hunt achieved and calls him kind, considerate and respectful. Several people, he says, have told him that at a dinner table with the Queen on one side and a binman on the other, Hunt spoke to them no differently.