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When you're stuck behind in second, third,

fourth, or wherever,

you have this massive plume

of spray in your face.

It's impossible

to see anything.

James hunt in the lead,

in the Marlboro mclaren.

This is the start he needs.

Mario andretti:

The visibility,

especially at

the beginning of the race,

was no more

than 20%, at best.

Man:
Look at that mist!

How can they see anything

driving in these conditions?

A hundred and eighty

Miles an hour,

you're listening, and then you're watching

your side of the road,

and if the car

in front of you stops,

you're gonna be

in trouble.

Man:
And there's Jody scheckter,

going down on the inside.

Perhaps he thinks there's better grip

down there on the inside.

And there, lauda,

in the pits already,

having a cockpit conference

with forghieri,

the leader of

the Ferrari team.

What's happened to lauda?

Niki decided to stop.

Man:
And there is

James hunt for the lead,

and lauda seemingly

out of the race already.

He stopped. That was it.

In the entire 40-odd years

I've been involved,

that's the only time

I can remember

a driver actually stopping

because the conditions were so dangerous.

Just incredible.

Man:
He's spinning!

( Indistinct remark )

...Out of the race completely,

and out of

the world championship!

Jody scheckter:

It takes big balls

to make

a decision like that.

Some people may think

it's cowardly.

Um, I think it's

probably the opposite.

He went against

all the things that

being a grand prix driver

at Ferrari are about--

in other words,

you drive for Ferrari, not yourself,

and if you've got

to die doing it, so be it.

Die, but at least

die trying.

Ferrari were actually

embarrassed for him.

You know... "No, the car is--

the engine is finished..."

And all the rest of it.

Lauda actually got angry

when he heard them doing that,

and told it straight.

Koen vergeer:
He was the one who resisted

the myth of Ferrari,

and he said no, no.

Who said that before

to enzo Ferrari?

To these days, I think I would

never forgive Niki lauda.

That particular moment,

he thought it was

too dangerous for him,

and he forget the...

50, 60 people from Ferrari

helping him to achieve.

The thousands of people

in the whole of Italy--

he forgot all of

those people in that time,

and their beloved lauda,

he become selfish

and he said,

"no, I don't want to drive."

Niki lauda:

I don't regret it.

But I already saw

what can happen.

Man:
And so we've got

about four laps to go,

and James hunt

is still second.

Maurice Hamilton: The championship

wasn't settled there and then

when he stepped

out of the car

because James had

to finish third or higher.

Man:
James hunt's in the pits

with one bald tire

and the others flat.

But there is Mario andretti,

in the lead.

Now, where does that leave

hunt as he exits the pits?

Is hunt still

in the top two hunt?

James hunt,

racing for his life.

I think hunt

is currently fourth.

And there's hunt,

going past Alan Jones.

That will put him

into third place,

and into the world

champion title!

Will his car

hold together?

James hunt...

And Mario andretti

takes the flag,

and here comes hunt!

James hunt has done it!

Hunt is the champion!

When he got out of the car,

James didn't know if

he'd won the championship.

He thought

he'd finished fourth.

( Vintage audio )

Hunt was world champion

in the end, by one point.

Dramatic formula one folklore.

It'll be there forever.

I met Niki. The first thing

he said to me was,

"I loved your father."

And, I mean, I think dad

quit at the end of the season.

He wished he could have shared

the championship with Niki.

They both lived to win,

and he wanted

to share it with him.

But he couldn't,

obviously.

There can be only... one.

That was his shooting star

moment, I think,

and it was the seminal

changing point in formula one.

The fairytale ending

belonged to hunt,

but it was lauda's decision

to quit with the championship

on the line

that helped change

the sport forever.

If the fastest drivers

refuse to race

out of fear for their lives

with the entire

world watching,

there is no formula one.

We understood that

culling racing drivers is not a good deal.

The public doesn't want

to see these heroes

dying on television,

dying in your living room.

Man:
This week's big event

is the British grand prix.

Really, safety

came about with money.

John hogan:
And that was all to do

with the television.

That was

the real breakthrough.

That's not really true.

The money helped,

but the whole point

about safety is it depends

on the attitude of the people

running the sport.

The new men taking

the lead in the fight

were survivors

in their own right.

It was obvious that something

needed to be done.

A decade after Jim Clark's death

shocked the world,

Bernie ecclestone

quietly hired

the leading neurosurgeon

in London

as the official

race doctor for formula one.

This was Bernie's idea,

to take on

this permanent doctor,

Professor sid Watkins,

a renowned brain surgeon.

Dr. sid Watkins:

The first year with Bernie

was a very difficult year

because nobody wanted

sid Watkins at the circuit.

Jody scheckter:

They've got their own doctors,

and they don't like

some englishman coming along

and saying, you know,

"we want to do this."

At the German grand prix

in 1978--

Dr. Watkins' fourth race--

the organizers banned

the track doctor

from race control

just moments before the start.

Bernie says,

"well, pack the cars. We're leaving."

Race control replied,

"what am I gonna do

with 80,000 Germans

who are here?"

And Bernie said,

"you can go and tell them to f*** themselves."

And they said, "the doctor

can come back in "

It was always said

that sid Watkins

was the only man

to whom Bernie ecclestone always deferred.

Four races later,

Dr. Watkins learned firsthand

the hardest lesson

in formula one.

( Announcer speaking German )

( Spectators reacting )

Jane birbeck:

We watched it on TV.

James pulled Ronnie

out of the car.

I was prevented from

getting there by the police,

for about 20 minutes or so.

I mean,

it was absolute mayhem.

The super Swede,

Ronnie Peterson,

had both of his legs

crushed in the pileup.

Eventually, Ronnie

went off in the helicopter,

and we resumed the start.

Colin Chapman won

his seventh and final

world championship

with Mario andretti.

He also lost his fifth driver.

Peterson died the next day,

after suffering an embolism.

That was just

a sword through my heart.

He should not have died

from that.

If Dr. Watkins

was in charge at monza,

Ronnie Peterson would probably [Be]

sitting next to me.

Koen vergeer:

Peterson was one of the guys on my first race.

All the others disappeared.

They had stopped,

or they had died.

On that day,

when Ronnie Peterson died,

my childhood approach

to formula one ended.

It was a turning point

for the sport, too.

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