Rush to Glory: FORMULA 1 Racing's Greatest Rivalry (12 page)

So Hunt found himself in a perfectly developed and highly competitive car, just as Fittipaldi had left it, and enhanced by the new six-speed gearbox. It was clear that the M23 was a competitive car that had been undermined by the one-off problems in Brazil. With these problems finally put right, the car was ultracompetitive and, on its day, every bit as fast as Lauda’s Ferrari.

On a personal basis, things were also much improved. The McLaren mechanics got to know Hunt and began to enjoy working for him—not least of all because of the amount of available women he introduced them to. Hunt drew women to the team like a magnet. As Caldwell noted, “We were all as happy as pigs in shit.”

The team was in an entirely new frame of mind, and the new superiority of McLaren in qualifying undoubtedly benefited from two significant modifications. First, there was a brand-new starter system that Caldwell had invented and was fitted to Hunt’s car just for qualifying. It was a remote system that started the engine with pneumatic power rather than an onboard battery. The weight saving was considerable and undoubtedly aided Hunt in qualifying. The second was the fitting of some plastic skirts to the McLaren’s underside, thereby improving the aerodynamics. Neither modification was carried over into the race due to uncertainties over their legality.

The Ferrari was unchanged. Lauda’s Ferrari started the weekend in identical specification to Brazil. But in testing, the team tried a De Dion design for the rear suspension, but it proved to be slower and so they reverted back. The De Dion system had been designed for the new 1976 car, the 312T, but the 312T1 was easy to update, and the team sought a short-term advantage.

Even with all the modifications made to the M23, no one was in any doubt that the Ferrari was, on a long run, the superior car. The M23 was by now a four-year-old design, and the 312T was only a year old. In overcoming that, it was clear for the first time just how accomplished a driver James Hunt was.

So it was no surprise when Hunt, now totally comfortable with his car, effortlessly took pole position once again alongside Niki Lauda. Jochen Mass put in a superb performance to be third on the grid behind Lauda, and Regazzoni was ninth. The surprise of qualifying was Vittorio Brambilla in the works March. He had been galvanized by the arrival of Ronnie Peterson in his team, and his speed seemed to increase accordingly.

But even though Hunt was fastest, Lauda had been the star of qualifying by dint of sheer consistency of purpose. The Ferrari was the most stable car on the circuit, and while every other driver had to work hard to get their times, Lauda took it easy and seemed to be controlling the steering wheel with his little finger. But Hunt and Lauda were the only two drivers in it, and no one else had a chance. Equally, no one had any doubt who would win the race.

Surprisingly, Lauda was unhappy. He called his Ferrari 312T “shit” and declared, “It’s sliding too much.” But he appeared to be trying to outpsyche his opponents, and some even wondered whether he had let Hunt have pole.

Hunt was very apprehensive about the start; he was a very poor starter, and Lauda was a very good one. As Hunt said, “Niki’s never been known to make a bad start yet.”

On race morning, during the warm-up session Lauda had problems with an engine misfire that could not be cured. The mechanics replaced everything they could think of and hoped for the best.

True to form—with Lauda never known to make a poor start and Hunt rarely known to make a good one—both performed as predicted. Lauda dropped Hunt at the start and roared off. Hunt made a terrible start and was only good enough for fourth place on the first lap behind Lauda, Mass, and Brambilla.

A few laps later, Jochen Mass, in third, waved his team leader through. There remained only Vittorio Brambilla’s March-Ford between Hunt and Lauda. On lap six, Hunt got past Brambilla and into second place, albeit seven seconds behind Lauda. He gradually closed the gap on Lauda, although he never seriously challenged him. It varied during the race from 10 seconds to 3 seconds.

But on lap 20 Lauda started to have problems. On the 20th lap his Ferrari started pulling to the left. The cause was a slow puncture in the left rear tire. Lauda also had problems with brake balance. He said, “Every couple of laps or so, I had to get used to a completely different car—every couple of laps, I had to work out a new line.”

Hunt sensed that Lauda was in trouble as he closed up on him. As Lauda said, “It was just about the best moral tonic he could have hoped for, and he hounded me pitilessly.” With two laps to go, Lauda realized that Hunt could take him. Then fortune played its part as they both came up to lap John Watson’s Penske car. Lauda made a do-or-die thrust to get past Watson, surprising Hunt. So for the last lap, Hunt was held up by Watson’s slower car, thereby enabling Lauda to hang on.

Over the line, Lauda led Hunt by 1.3 seconds at the finish. Mass was third, albeit 46 seconds behind. For Lauda it was another rout of his rivals, and he was now firm favorite to be world champion again. But despite Lauda’s apparent superiority, the first two races had lit the fuse for the 1976 world championship, and it was obvious Hunt would not let Lauda have it all his own way. When he took his helmet off at the end of the race, Hunt was grinning from ear to ear with his second place.

Hunt was suddenly a genuine world championship contender, and he was strangely surprised by it. Hunt had dominated qualifying, but Lauda had dominated the racing.

CHAPTER
7

Women Problems Resolved

Marlene and Jane

April 1976

T
he 1976 South African Grand Prix marked a watershed in the personal lives of Niki Lauda and James Hunt. Lauda debuted his new fiancée—soon to be wife—Marlene Knaus, and it finally became apparent that James Hunt’s marriage to Suzy Miller was over when she appeared in public on the arm of actor Richard Burton in New York.

The resolution of their personal circumstances was a huge relief to both men, especially to Niki Lauda, who had agonized over the dumping of his fiancée of eight years, Mariella von Reininghaus, in favor of his new love, Marlene Knaus. Equally, Hunt had been desperate to see Suzy settled into a new life.

Lauda’s relief seemed more palpable in South Africa. Marlene Knaus was a very sensual woman in an ethereal way; pretty rather than beautiful, she exuded sex appeal. There was something about her that men liked, even though she invariably wore her hair in a severe, brushed-back bun at the top of her head, which made her appear a lot older than her 24 years.

In South Africa, Lauda and Marlene could be seen every night in a quiet corner of the bar of the Kyalami Ranch Hotel. They were clearly enjoying each other’s company and couldn’t stop exchanging reassuring glances as curious people dropped by to say “hello.”

They were both nervous. Although a secret in England, Lauda’s love life had been a source of speculation in continental newspapers for the past few months. But with no firm evidence, and none of the principals talking, journalists could only guess what was going on. But at Kyalami it was clear Lauda had most definitely taken up with Marlene Knaus.

The ripples in Europe’s social circles were immediate. Lauda and Mariella had been one of the most important couples in Europe for the past eight years. Lauda was desperate to not appear to have left Mariella for Marlene, and it was his good luck that his new girlfriend attracted very little attention. Lauda had figured he could test the water in South Africa, away from the full glare of European journalists.

But he hadn’t figured on the Hunt-Burton-Taylor story making his news a complete nonevent. Such was the buzz surrounding James Hunt that hardly anyone noticed Lauda had a new girlfriend.

The newspapers were only interested in Hunt’s wife and the fact that Suzy had broken up the marriage of Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. It was the perfect cover for Lauda’s low-key introduction of Marlene.

To those who did notice, Lauda introduced Marlene by saying simply, “This is my lady.” Remarkably, the sudden dumping of his companion of eight years and the woman he intended to marry did not seem to merit any further explanation than that. As he had been seeing Marlene for at least six months during the close season, and Mariella had already been long gone from his life, he had forgotten all about her and didn’t care to discuss it. For him the transition was seamless.

But outside of Lauda’s earshot, there was plenty of gossip and discussion. The truth was that no one was interested in Marlene; they all wanted to know what had happened to Mariella.

And as soon as word got around, Lauda encountered a muted but hostile reaction to Marlene from the other wives and girlfriends present. They put up a united front in support of Mariella in her absence. They were horrified when they realized what Lauda had done and plotted together as to how they could reunite the couple.

They simply couldn’t believe that Lauda would dump the spectacularly striking Mariella for Marlene, who was undoubtedly attractive but not in Mariella’s class in the beauty stakes. John Watson, a disinterested observer at the time, described Mariella’s beauty as akin to a piece of “Dresden porcelain.”

David Benson, the motoring editor of the
Daily Express,
was the journalist in the know, and he was also critical of Lauda’s decision to dump Mariella, saying, “Lauda had simply removed the fuse on the emotional circuit in his brain.” But when he filed the story back to his newspaper, he found the news editor was barely interested in it.

Lauda was also under fire from all quarters, including ones he never could have imagined. One vociferous critic was the architect who was building his house. Once he realized that Lauda had split with Mariella, he refused to do any more work. He told Lauda, “It’s a dirty trick. I wanted to build the house for you and Fraulein Reininghaus.” He told Lauda he would not finish the house because of how he had treated Mariella. The architect’s opinion reflected what everyone else thought. They all sided with Mariella, and some were quite hostile to Marlene.

But as people got to know Marlene, they warmed to her, including David Benson, who said, “I established a friendly relationship with Marlene when the other people on the racing circuit cold-shouldered her, thinking she was merely some local pickup.” But Benson could sense that Marlene was more than a casual fling—although he had no idea how much more.

Mariella may have gone quietly, but she was very popular on the Formula One scene, and others were resolutely determined to save the relationship. In fact, people went out of their way to try to mend the relationship. The wives and girlfriends worked fervently behind the scenes to dispatch Marlene and reinstall Mariella at Lauda’s side. They believed Lauda would come to his senses quickly if pressure was placed on him and if news of the relationship leaked out and he saw peoples’ reactions. For a few weeks there was still a great deal of fevered speculation about whether Lauda and Mariella would get back together again.

Nina Rindt, widow of Jochen Rindt, took direct action and invited people to a party where she hoped to reunite the couple. The party was at her house, overlooking Lake Geneva. Helen Stewart, Jackie Stewart’s wife, offered to get in touch with both Mariella and Lauda and to try and heal the breach. Helen was nominated by the others to directly intervene. But they were all laboring under the impression that Lauda and Marlene had just met and had no idea what had occurred the previous year in Reading. And they didn’t count on Lauda’s reaction to the scheming.

When news of the women’s summit and the party at Lake Geneva reached him the next day, Lauda decided to take action. He didn’t want a media circus, and he knew the Austrian and German press would take Mariella’s side against his. So Lauda went as quietly as he could to a registry office in Vienna-Neustadt and married Marlene. The registrar agreed to perform a special ceremony outside normal hours, and astonishingly it remained a secret for nearly a month, by which time journalists accepted it as a fait accompli, making further speculation effectively unnecessary.

With that, speculation about a reunion ceased and Mariella was forgotten. And James Hunt continued to hog the headlines, which suited Lauda just fine.

And those headlines kept coming, for it was a far juicier story than anything Niki Lauda was getting up to in the bedroom.

It was pure coincidence that Richard Burton and his wife, actress Elizabeth Taylor, were spending the 1975–76 winter holiday season in Gstaad at the same time as James Hunt and Suzy Miller.

Although the Hunts had agreed to be together for the holidays, their marriage to all intents and purposes had ended the previous summer. Hunt had spent much of the summer with Jane Birbeck in London, while Suzy moped around in Marbella wondering what to do next.

When they got to Gstaad, Suzy and Hunt immediately went their separate ways, hardly seeing each other. Hunt was in serious training for the 1976 Formula One season and spent all day at the gym or running. At night he didn’t drink and, consequently, didn’t socialize. Without alcohol, Hunt was a different man. But Suzy knew he was surreptitiously seeing local girls during the day, and she ended up very depressed for the first time in her life. She spent most of her time wandering around Gstaad on her own. Hunt was unhappy that she was unhappy and wished their situation could be resolved. On a whim, Suzy decided to stay on in Gstaad when her husband jetted off to South America for the Brazilian Grand Prix in early January. Anyway, Gstaad could be great fun in January, and Suzy needed some fun in her life.