James Hunt: The biography by Gerald Donaldson

Author:Gerald Donaldson [Donaldson, Gerald]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Crónica, Memorias
Publisher: ePubLibre
Published: 1993-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

8. WORLD CHAMPION

1976

The first two of the remaining three races in the 1976 season were in North America and James arrived early to prepare for the Canadian Grand Prix at the Mosport Park circuit near Toronto. He was playing squash in a Toronto club when he was given bad news that completely threw him off his game. His Brands Hatch victory had been taken away from him.

An FIA Court of Appeal in Paris had disqualified the Hunt McLaren from the results of the British Grand Prix. In an 11-hour session the six-member jury composed of FIA delegates from France, Germany, Spain, Brazil, Switzerland and the USA, listened to the evidence presented by Ferrari and McLaren and ruled in favour of the Italian team.

Ferrari's argument, presented by the team manager Daniele Audetto and two lawyers, stated that after the accident at the start of the British race Hunt's car had been abandoned by the driver and was being pushed by the McLaren mechanics while the race was still in progress and was thus incapable of completing the first lap.

McLaren's defence, given by Teddy Mayer and a lawyer representing the RAC, stated that Hunt stopped only when he saw the red flag being displayed, that the car was only pushed after the race had been officially halted and that Hunt could have completed the lap had he felt it necessary.

Teddy Mayer, who had shown the court a BBC video of the race which he thought substantiated McLaren's claim, said of the FIA decision: ‘The worst part of it was that James won the race fair and square, there was no question about that, or of the car being illegal. Ferrari were just trying to use the rules to get out of competing with James and to me that is very sad’.

Alastair Caldwell claimed that the FIA jury had been swayed by the appearance of a surprise witness for Ferrari. ‘To get the court's sympathy they brought Niki to Paris with a bloody band age on his head, long after his wounds had healed. The little prick was as bouncy and fit as a jack rabbit. He didn't need any bandages. But it worked. They introduced him to the members of the jury: “Here's the victim, poor Niki Lauda, the man who nearly died, the living saint”. And the silly old sods who did the deciding decided that it was unfair on poor Niki’.

James was incensed that his hard-earned win, that wonderfully satisfying performance in front of his home crowd, now counted for nothing. His nine points had been taken away and given to Niki. The score now stood at Lauda 64 and Hunt 47, a 17-point difference with only three races to go. For James it seemed his boyhood dream had surely been shattered.

‘Ever since I saw my first race as a kid, winning the World Championship was all I ever wanted. I thought I'd got my hands nearly on it. Instead, here I am screwed. And you don't think I'm bitter?

‘As far as I'm concerned you can forget about the sport; the sport's gone out of it.

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