Hunt's F1 apathy and Prost's cunning: the 'different beasts' at McLaren

Anderson witnessed this seismic shift, having worked with Hunt (“He didn’t really want to be a racing driver”) before observing Prost’s wiliness during his first test with the team (“He was quick but he was also clever”), and recounts his time alongside both drivers and the stories that defined them in our latest podcast.

The man who would go on to design Jordan’s debut 191 F1 car joined McLaren in 1977, the year after Hunt’s title success. The team’s performance had faded and Anderson was tasked with returning McLaren to the front of the field utilising ground effect aerodynamics – a feature that is now a major part of the current F1 regulations but at the time was a relatively new phenomenon.

But with Hunt’s interest waning, Anderson couldn’t count on his feedback.

“He was very very talented,” the designer remembers. “But the big thing was, he didn’t really want to be a racing driver, he just wanted to do something successful. When we went testing, the last thing James wanted to do was drive the car, because he knew when it came time to put in the lap – he would do it.”

“It was what we know James Hunt as today – somebody who was living a life that he wanted to live and needed some of that stuff [racing] to bring him the – well the air stewardesses I think you might call it!”

Although the lack of testing and driver feedback translated on track – McLaren only capturing three race victories and five podiums over the 1977 and ’78 seasons – Hunt continued to fulfil his reputation off-track.

“He was a pleasure to work for – he liked a bit of fun,” says Anderson. “He came to my first housewarming party in his stretch limo and the first thing he did was organise all the parking so people could get into the house. He was a nice guy and I enjoyed working with him but the last thing he ever wanted to do was drive a racing car.”

This lifestyle was in direct contrast to Prost, McLaren’s next great prodigy who began testing with the team in 1979 following a period of domination in the French and European F3 championships – winning the title in each.

“Alain was a completely different beast,” says Anderson. “He was just car mad, everything had to be about getting the car better so that he could do his job.”

“His test at Paul Ricard was his first outing in an F1 car. But with the Marlboro backing, they were quite keen on an American driver. So we set up a back-to-back test between Alain Prost and Kevin Cogan.”

Cogan had been on the radar of several teams due to his performance in Formula Ford and Formula Atlantic from 1975-1979 – earning three victories in his final season before stepping up to an F1 seat. But even with sponsor backing, Cogan proved no match for Prost’s blistering pace or his psychological mind games. Anderson, once again, had a front-row seat.

“John Watson was our regular driver so he went out in the car and set a time. Then Alain got in. He was very careful about everything – he left the pits with no wheelspin and didn’t miss any gears. But off he went and suddenly after four or five laps he was quicker than John was.

“Then it was Kevin Cogan’s turn. He didn’t learn anything from Prost, [coming] out of the pits he had wheel spin, missed the next gear and stalled – he did all the opposite things to what Alain Prost had done. After a couple of runs, Teddy called him in and said “I think you better use that return ticket to America because I don’t think things are going to work out” but as he came back he was complaining about a vibration.”

This was a common occurrence for teams, especially during testing, as instead of shipping a fleet of tyres with them, drivers would be forced to use two sets of tyres for an entire day of running – a factor Prost took full advantage of.

“After [Cogan] had gone Prost said “You better change those tyres now, because they’ve been run a bit”. What he’d done is on his in-lap [before Cogan’s turn], he’d slightly flat-spotted his tyres so that whenever Kevin got in there he wouldn’t be able to see very much because of the vibration.

“He was quick, but he was also clever and he did it for a reason. He knew there was an F1 drive available and he needed to do things right.”

This ‘survival of the fittest’ approach would go on to become a major contributing factor to the success of the Frenchman’s career – earning him a drive at McLaren for 1980 and subsequently captured four F1 world titles and 51 race victories – while also spearheading McLaren’s resurgence to the front of the field after Hunt’s departure.

“He became a very valuable part of the jigsaw – he was the jigsaw, the final piece. You always start around the outside on the edges and work your way in, but you need that last middle piece to fit in there and make it work.”