James Hunt remembers his F1 debut: I was nervous, very nervous

*James Hunt: I was nervous, very nervous.

For their F1 debut at the sports most glitzy and high-profile race, on its most treacherous track, Hesketh procured a brand new March 731 for James and headquartered his team on one of the biggest yachts in the harbour from where he lavished flashy guests with champagne and caviar.

James, with his good looks and playboy image made for the occasion, might have been expected to be right at home in these surroundings on the Cote D'Azur, but he was there to race at the highest level and admitted to his biographer Gerald Donaldson, "I was nervous, very nervous.

"Before any race, I became nervous, particularly if it was important to me. And that race was very important. Monaco is a pretty tough place to start a Grand Prix career. The track is so narrow, you're shifting gears all the time and there is absolutely no room for error. Five hundred horsepower is a lot to tame in that confined space. Before I got into the car I was puking all over the place and on the grid, I was a shaking wreck."

James qualified 18th in a field of 26 and on race day in Monaco - 3rd June 1973 - he went on to endure a challenging race of high attrition, the 26-year-old rookie battling it out with the best of the best.

Although the engine on his car blew up late in the race, James was still classified ninth as he free-wheeled the silent March over the finish line to crown an impressive Grand Prix debut.

Today he would have bagged two points for his efforts, but at the time F1 World Championship points were only awarded up to sixth place.

James recalled the day, "I was going well for the first third of the race, then suddenly it hit me. I couldn't drive at that pace anymore. I was simply going to drive off the road. The heat plus the physical effort of driving the car had me completely knackered."

Nevertheless, he soldiered on to share headlines in Motorsport Magazine who reported of the race at the time: "The statisticians had a field day. Stewart scored his 25th Grand Prix victory, Graham Hill competed in his 150th Grand Prix.

"And James Hunt was classified a finisher in his first Grand Prix even though his engine blew up just before the end and he was able to coast across the line."