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I love Formula1 and I’ve been following it regularly since the early 90s. I even flew to Italy two years ago to watch the Monza GP, one of my favorite tracks (Spa Francorchamps being my all-time favorite).
F1 has changed drastically since the 90s and the new tires introduced three years ago have spoiled some of the fun for a lot of fans as drivers were more concerned with preserving their tires than racing. In fact, there are a lot of technicalities that the driver has to worry about, unlike the early days where it was all about racing and that’s what the movie Rush is all about.
I wasn’t born back in the 70s but I read a lot about F1 during this period, watch tons of documentaries and YouTube videos and was always amazed by the way races were organized and the risks undertaken by drivers back then. Of course it was a major improvement from the 1950s and 1960s where people would stand on the track to watch the race but you’d have to be extremely talent and very brave to race in F1 back then.
[YouTube] F1 in the 1970s: Where men, were men
One of the greatest rivalries in F1 history took places in the 1970s between James Hunt and Niki Lauda and luckily for us F1 fans, Rush is a biographical action film that tries to reproduce the 1976 Formula One season and the rivalry between these two. The Hunt-Lauda rivalry resembles a bit the Senna-Prost one as Lauda was a cool and technical genius while Hunt was a highly controversial driver and just crazy!
For those of you who never heard about Hunt, this man had a ritual of throwing up before every race, most of the time due to the heavy drinking and partying the night before, he got drunk on his wedding, he was a sex addict as he’d have sex before climbing into the cockpit, he’d take his Oscar, his German Shepherd, on dinner dates in London etc …
Hunt was probably the most controversial figure F1 has ever witnessed and he reminds me a bit of Kimi Raikonnen, who funnily enough, entered and won a snowmobile race in his native Finland under the name James Hunt, and often checks into hotels and makes reservations using the alias. [Source]
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As you might have noticed, I have a lot to say when it comes to F1 but it’s just to show how excited I am about this new F1 movie and F1 in general. Speaking of F1 movies/documentaries, Senna is the best F1 documentary I’ve ever seen and I highly recommend it. I’ve watched it over 10 times so far.
Rush’s release date should be October 3 in Lebanese theaters.
euf 8.4 on imdb! damn…
not exactly my favorite type of movies but def will watch it
+ I wouldn’t wana miss watching olivia wild doing some x scenes
Cant wait for it!
Thanks for pointing this movie out. I had no idea a film was done on the Lauda/Hunt rivalry of F1 in the mid 70’s.
I was 9 years old and a huge Lauda fan living in Vienna in 1976 when I witnessed the crash live on TV. I will never forget the heroics of the driver that pulled Niki out of the flaming car that saved his life.
Our mother, God bless her soul, drove us up to the Lauda residence outside Vienna, to leave flowers and get well cards the next day, after our deep shock as kids seeing it live on Austrian TV.
I will also never forget the moment I saw the greatest F1 driver ever crash and resultantly die in Italy live on TV in 1994, as adult at home in Beirut. It was the 9/11 moment for me in F1 and where I knew the sport would never be the same after that incident. Schumacher would forever live in his shadow, no matter his victories and titles and F1 just never was the same again.
A personal moment I had with this Legend was seeing him being refused entry into a famous night club just off Portofino in Italy in 1993. He was refused entry because he came in Bermuda shorts with his Girlfriend and which was against the strict dress code of the club.
I bet the Italian bouncer and Club manager still go to confession to this day asking for forgiveness for their act.
Thanks,
That’s pretty awesome seeing Senna live. His death was indeed a very tragic event but F1 is still great in my opinion and we’ve seen a lot of talents after Senna mainly Schumacher and now Vettel.