Rush film was a ‘joke', McLaren F1 chief gives TRUTH about legendary Hunt and Lauda rivalry

Niki Lauda chats with James Hunt at a race in 1977 — Photo: © IMAGO

F1 Legends

Rush film was a ‘joke', McLaren F1 chief gives TRUTH about legendary Hunt and Lauda rivalry

Niki Lauda and James Hunt had a fierce rivalry

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Monday 27 April 2026 22:56 Updated: 09:09

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A former McLaren F1 chief who worked closely with James Hunt has slammed the blockbuster film Rush, despite starring in it himself.

Rush was released in 2013, and depicted the fierce on-track rivalry between Niki Lauda and James Hunt during the late 1970s.

Lauda went into the 1976 season as the F1 champion having claimed the 1975 title with Ferrari.

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But 1976 saw the emergence of a familiar foe, with his rival from the junior series Hunt having joined McLaren after performing well with Hesketh in 1975.

Hunt and Lauda were then involved in a closely fought championship battle in 1976, in which Hunt was the victor following a near-fatal incident for Lauda at the 1976 German Grand Prix.

Lauda almost lost his life in the days following the incident having suffered some serious burns, but remarkably made a full recovery, and was back racing in F1 by the 1976 Italian GP, before claiming the title in 1977.

Now, Hunt's former technical director at McLaren - Alastair Caldwell - has described the Rush film depicting their rivalry as a 'joke', claiming that the pair always remained good friends away from the track.

Caldwell actually starred in the film back in 2013, having a cameo role as a race official.

"Well, if you watch the film Rush, which is a bit of a joke, really, because it doesn't actually tell the story, but it's 'a story'," Caldwell told Goodwood's YouTube channel.

"You'll see that they crash at Brands Hatch in their early days, in their Formula 3 days, and they shout at each other and blah blah. And this is true, but they came to Brands Hatch in James's Mini, and they went home in James's Mini, and they lived together in a Knightsbridge flat. So they were the best of friends, and they always were.

"On the racetrack, they gave no quarter, because that's the way it was. But in real life, the opposite of the film Rush was true. James and Niki were the best of friends."

Lauda's 1976 crash

The 1976 German Grand Prix is one of the most infamous events in F1 history, and Lauda was fortunate to survive the incident.

Lauda lost control of his Ferrari before the right-hand Bergwerk curve at the Nurburgring track, and crashed into an earth bank, before the car bounced back onto the track, engulfed in flames.

Brett Lunger hit Lauda's stricken car, while Harald Ertl then hit into the back of Lunger's car. Lauda's rivals stopped and helped him out of his burning Ferrari car, but Lauda had suffered serious burns and was rushed by helicopter to the Bundeswehr hospital in Koblenz.

The Austrian racer was left scarred for the rest of his life, but didn't let it stop him, going on to claim two more championships in 1977 and 1984 and go down in history as one of the greatest ever F1 racers.

Lauda retired in 1985, and in later years worked as a non-executive chairman for Mercedes during their dominant period in the sport led by Lewis Hamilton.

The F1 legend unfortunately passed away in 2019 aged 70 after suffering kidney issues following a lung transplant.

F1 McLaren Niki Lauda James Hunt