Motorsport · 1976 · Oyama, Japan
Hunt Wins the Title in the Fuji Fog
In torrential rain that pushes Niki Lauda to withdraw for his own safety, James Hunt fights back from a late pit stop to snatch the world championship by a single point.
1 point
Championship margin
3rd (enough to win title)
Hunt's finish
6
Lauda's crash, weeks prior
Niki Lauda arrived at the season-deciding 1976 Japanese Grand Prix at Fuji Speedway three points clear of James Hunt, just six weeks after a near-fatal, fiery crash at the Nürburgring had left him with severe burns and lung damage. Conditions at Fuji were treacherous, thick fog and standing water covering the track, and Lauda pulled into the pits after two laps and withdrew, saying afterward that his life was worth more than a championship.
Hunt needed a top-three finish to overtake Lauda's points total and led for most of the race, but a late tyre problem forced an unplanned pit stop that dropped him outside the podium places. He fought back through the closing laps in worsening conditions to reclaim third place by the chequered flag.
That third-place finish was enough: Hunt won the 1976 Formula 1 World Championship by a single point over Lauda, one of the closest and most dramatic title deciders in the sport's history. The rivalry between the two men, and the season that produced it, was later dramatised in the 2013 film 'Rush'.
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