Drawing a line in the sand
A trio of third-place podiums in points scoring grands prix kept the momentum building through ’74, before his true coming of age moment arrived at Zandvoort early in the following summer. At the time, Lauda and his beautiful, new Ferrari 312T were firmly on top after three consecutive victories – and the Austrian duly took pole position at the Dutch GP. But the next day, Hunt and Hesketh would win fair and square, purely on merit.
The race started in the rain, with Lauda taking the lead as team-mate Clay Regazzoni slipped behind Jody Scheckter’s six-wheeled Tyrrell P34 and a determined Hunt. Now James showed a sensitivity and racing intelligence some would continue to overlook by stopping early for slick tyres – and once the others also came in and swapped, the Hesketh was now at the front. But there was still a long way to go – and plenty of time for another mistake under pressure.
Now down in third, Lauda fought hard to deal with Jean-Pierre Jarier’s Shadow which had risen to second after the stops. On lap 44 he was finally past and with 31 laps still to run set after the Hesketh. No one was surprised when the Ferrari closed the gap and latched on to the Hesketh’s tail – but now Hunt refused to conform to his reputation. It was time to rub out the trademark of buckling under pressure.
The Ferrari’s flat 12 gave Lauda a power advantage down the main straight, but with the Hesketh running a touch more wing and Hunt taking a tight line into the key overtaking point at Tarzan, the first corner, the laps ticked by, the tension built and James seemed to grow in confidence. There would be no clanging errors today, as he soaked up all Lauda could throw at him to score a victory that any driver would have been proud of.
Nothing could stop Lauda sweeping to his first world championship in ’75, but Hunt would finish a respectable fourth in the points behind him. For Hesketh, Zandvoort would prove the zenith as Le Patron’s funds began to dry up and the champagne fizz began to go flat. James would make a surprise switch to McLaren for ’76 in the wake of Emerson Fittipaldi’s shock decision to put his faith in his brother’s Brazilian Copersucar-backed team, setting in motion one of the greatest and most dramatic stories in F1 history.
Zandvoort ’75 was merely a prelude to all that would follow – but on that day in the dunes, Hunt always said he “completed his training” in his Hesketh. Now he was ready and waiting to conquer the F1 world.
Images courtesy of Motorsport Images.