Freddie Hunt

Freddie Alexander Hunt (born 28 June 1987) is a British racing driver, presenter, entrepreneur and former professional polo player. He most recently competed in the Prototype Cup Germany for Reiter Engineering from 2023 until the series folded in 2025. He is the son of 1976 Formula One World Champion James Hunt and his second wife, Sarah Lomax.

Early life Freddie Alexander Hunt was born on 28 June 1987 in Guildford, Surrey, to James Hunt and his second wife, Sarah Lomax. He suffered from severe hearing issues at a young age as a result of enlarged adenoids, and eventually had them removed via operation to allow him to hear properly. His parents divorced when he was two, and he grew up in the countryside with his mother and brother Tom Hunt. His father died when he was 5 years old, at which point he began attending grand prix, though he knew little about cars or motorsport.

Hunt left school at 16 and began participating in professional polo shortly after, sparked by his childhood in the countryside around horses, and began working as a chef in a pub in his spare time to fund his participation. He held a two-goal handicap in the sport, but eventually moved away from polo as it became too expensive to compete in, selling the six ponies he competed with only the day before he moved into motorsport.

Early career Hunt's interest in motorsport was sparked after he attended the 2006 Goodwood Festival of Speed as a spectator and was subsequently convinced by a friend to drive a Maserati at the event. Hunt also drove two of his father's historic cars at the Silverstone Classic, namely the Hesketh 308 and the McLaren M23, which were driven by James Hunt to achieve his first race victory at the 1975 Dutch Grand Prix and his first and only Formula One World Drivers' Championship in 1976 respectively.

In 2008, Hunt competed in eight rounds of the inaugural ADAC Formel Masters series for Buchbinder Racing by Emotional Engineering, scoring 0 points. In the same year, he also competed in the Club Ginetta Series for ADAC Motorsport, driving a Ginetta G20. The championship would result in the "most enjoyable race" of his career, in which he got pole position in a wet qualifying session before retiring in the race due to a throttle issue. In 2009, Hunt went back to the ADAC Formel Masters series, scoring five points and finishing 20th in the championship. In that same year, he drove in the ADAC Volkswagen Polo Cup in Germany, scoring no points.

Mounting pressure from his family name and the intense scrutiny centred around his inability to match his father's level of success resulted in Hunt deciding to take a multi-year hiatus from motor racing in 2008. Hunt later stated that he was "swamped by media photographers" and put under high amounts of pressure that impacted his performances while on track throughout his early career. Hunt also participated in the 2008 Goodwood Festival of Speed, in which he drove his father's 1975 Hesketh 308B for the second time.

Career

In 2013, Hunt made his official return to motorsport after he was invited as an international guest to compete in the Master de Pilotos de la República Argentina, a karting event that coincided with the Argentine premiere of the film Rush, which depicts the famous 1976 rivalry between his father and Niki Lauda. The race featured professional drivers from Argentina's major categories Súper TC2000 and Turismo Carretera competing on a specially designed street circuit in Puerto Madero. In a tribute to his father, Freddie competed using the number 11, the same number James Hunt carried during his 1976 Formula 1 World Championship-winning season. He finished 12th. Hunt subsequently pivoted back into open-wheel racing and entered into the 2014–15 MRF Challenge Formula 2000 Championship, in which his teammate was Mathias Lauda, son of Niki Lauda for the first two rounds. Hunt finished the season 21st with five points.thumb Hunt (middle) at the 2014–15 MRF Challenge Losail round, with Mathias Lauda and Nikita Mazepin among others. In the same year, Hunt also competed in the Renault UK Clio Cup for Bubble & Kick Racing, where he would finish 31st with 19 points. Hunt and his teammates Nigel Rata and Simon Green were only able to complete 38 laps before the car was retired. Additionally, Hunt would make a one-off appearance in the Aussie Racing Cars Super Series for Darwin Hyundai, driving a Hyundai Elantra. Overall, he finished 55th in the championship with 29 points. Hunt also competed in the Pirelli World Challenge season finale at Laguna Seca in which he would become involved in a large incident at the start of the race. As the field accelerated for the standing start the fourth-place qualifier, Mark Wilkins, stalled on the grid. Coming from further back in the pack Hunt was unsighted and drilled into the back of the stalled Kia at approximately . Hunt was ruled out of the event immediately and suffered a back injury that sidelined him from racing for several months. Hunt had a standout debut weekend at Valencia, Spain. In the second race, he charged from 21st on the grid to finish eighth overall, which earned him his first rookie podium as the second-best rookie in the Elite 2 class for that race. Overall, he would finish 25th with 176 points. In the same year, he competed in the Elite 1 class in the same series with less success, finishing 29th with 118 points. He finished 21st in the standings with four points. A second attempt in the same year resulted in a further 14 points, with Hunt finishing 27th in the standings. In the same year, Hunt would achieve a class victory in the 24H Series - SP3-GT4, his first endurance race win.

The next year in 2018, Hunt competed in the V de V Endurance Series in the LMP3 class, driving for Nefis by Speed Factory. In the Estoril 6 Hours, Hunt would finish second in his class and sixth overall, but as this was his only appearance in the season he would finish 41st with 34 points in the championship. Hunt drove in the GT4 South European Series in the same year before returning to the Le Mans Cup for Mühlner Motorsport in 2021, finishing 32nd in the championship with two points. In 2021, he also drove in the Sports Prototype Cup Revolution Trophy, where he finished third with two podiums and a win. Hunt finished second in the LMP3 class, with two pole positions, three podiums and a win at Portimão in seven races. This resulted in Reiter Engineering finishing as runner up in the constructor standings. Hunt also competed in the Nissan Sentra Cup in Canada, in which he ended the season with 47 points in 20th before entering the European Le Mans Series in the LMP3 class for EuroInternational, in which he made his debut at Barcelona. He finished 20th in the standings with ten points and secured his second victory in an LMP3 car during the Prototype Cup Germany round at the Nürburgring.

For 2023, Hunt signed with Reiter Engineering to compete in the Prototype Cup Germany. Hunt made his debut in the series atZandvoort (24–25 June 2023). Hunt continued to race in the Prototype Cup Germany until it folded in 2025 as the organizers could not reach an agreement with ACO about the continuation of the V8-powered cars.

Hunt aimed to win the 2026 24 Hours of Le Mans to mark the 50th anniversary of his father's F1 World Championship. The project went by the slogan "The Hunt for Le Mans". Ultimately, Hunt did not compete, as his Silver FIA racing licence resulted in the funding required to join a team to be five times more expensive than if he had a Bronze licence.

In 2021, Hunt co-founded fashion brand Elkay Hunt with fellow racing driver Lee Keshav. The brand sells luxury clothing that is hand-made in India by craftsmen, and intends to promote environmental sustainability.

Hunt co-presents Amazon Prime Video series Car & Country alongside Deepak Narendran and Ashique Thahir, which he began presenting after joining the programme in the seventh episode of the series, which details the Scottish Highlands. The series was renamed to Car & Country - Rush to commemorate Hunt joining the presenting team. Hunt currently resides in the Isle of Bute, Scotland.

Racing Record Racing career summary † As Hunt was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points.

Complete ADAC Formel Masters results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete MRF Challenge Formula 2000 results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

NASCAR (key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Whelen Euro Series - Elite 1 NASCAR Whelen Euro Series - Elite 1 results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Pts 2016 DF1 Racing 66 Chevrolet VAL VAL VEN VEN BRH BRH TOU TOU ADR ADR ZOL ZOL 29th 118

Whelen Euro Series – Elite 2 (key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.) NASCAR Whelen Euro Series – Elite 2 results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Points 2016 DF1 Racing 66 Chevrolet VAL VAL VEN VEN BRH BRH TOU TOU ADR ADR ZOL ZOL 25th 176

Complete Le Mans Cup results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)