Quote:
Originally Posted by coppice
Funny driver really , rising almost without trace. He was pretty good in F3 but so were lots of others , and I first really noticed him as somebody to watch at an Oulton F2 race . But put him in a big bhp F1 and he was away - very much like Lauda's career trajectory.
Hunt was terrific from 73 to 77 but then declined almost overnight . As a man I didn't really warm to the public persona , and although his commentary work was good it would have been far better if he'd kept his personal axes to grind somewhere else . His rubbishing of Patrese at every opportunity was shameful .
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Also you could say the same about our Nige, he only won one race in F3, and that was after the winner on the road was DQed.
I agree the vendetta against Patrese was unnecessary, but even he could give Riccardo credit where it was due. He even apologised during the 1991 Italian GP, when he suggested Riccardo made a ‘stupid mistake’ while leading, then when Jonathan Palmer interviewed him, Patrese said he had a gearbox problem. Hunt was also honest enough to admit the hunger had gone in his last season and a half (78-79)