"I can perhaps stay with a girl another hour and that might make all the difference": When McLaren's former champion hinted at perks of being in F1

Former McLaren F1 world champion, James Hunt, once talked about the difference between motorsport and other sports. He mentioned that racing in F1 allowed him to stay up late with women.

As quoted by Marca in 2020, Hunt once discussed the perks he enjoyed while racing in F1. He explained that if he were in any other sport, he would have to sleep as early as 10 pm. However, since he used to race in F1, he joked that he could stay up late at night and be with women for another hour.

"Were I a serious professional athlete I'd have to go off to bed at 22:00. But, as a racing driver, I can perhaps stay with a girl another hour and that might make all the difference," Hunt once said.

Hunt was one of the most popular F1 drivers, who had a playboy aura around him. He was frequently seen in and out of F1 paddocks with women. However, his bad-boy persona and lavish lifestyle did not hinder his on-track performance in F1. He won his first and only world championship in 1976 with McLaren and also clinched 10 race wins in total.

Of course, a lot has changed since Hunt was in F1 in the late 70s. In the current scenario, F1 drivers have an extremely tight schedule and are usually advised to take a good night's sleep before race weekends. Most recently, Red Bull asked Max Verstappen to reduce his late-night sim racing sessions, especially ahead of a Grand Prix.

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Former McLaren world champion James Hunt once explained why women liked racing drivers

Speaking about why racers attracted women, James Hunt explained his theory that since drivers live on the edge at all times, they are much more alive than others.

Hunt felt that this trait of being close to death and being alive attracts female attention. He also added that women were not particularly interested in or respected what drivers actually did, which was race against each other in circles.

"I have a theory why women like racing drivers... It's not because they respect what we do, driving round and round in circles. Mostly they think that's pathetic and they're probably right. It's our closeness to death. You see the closer you are to death the more alive you feel, the more alive you are," Hunt once said, via James Hunt official page on Facebook.

Apart from being with other women, the former McLaren driver also had two failed marriages with Taormina Rieck and Sarah Lomax. He also had a relationship with Helen Dyson in his latter days before he passed away in 1993.