DVD Review: Hunt v Lauda The Next Generation

When I first came across the cover of this DVD, I thought it was another dramatisation of 1976’s famous F1 title clash between Niki Lauda and James Hunt like Ron Howard’s Rush. Actually, it’s a 2021 documentary about Niki and James’ sons who both followed in their footsteps to become GT racing drivers and their invitational race to pilot Revolution A-One prototypes at the Donington Park circuit in 2021.

This documentary is a bit of 2 halves – the first half is the back story of both their fathers James and Niki including interviews with their family members and older archival footage. There’s also an earlier interview with Freddie and Niki. This half of the movie will appeal to F1 fans and also traces the separate career journeys of both Freddie and Mathias growing up as sons of famous F1 champions.

The second half of the movie focuses on their individual preparation, qualifying and actual race between Freddie and Mathias for the Donington race. I didn’t realise they had raced together back in 2014 in India. It’s clearly obvious you can see their DNA origins when you watch either of these men talk or race. It’s uncanny, very similar to how Bruno Senna with his helmet on looked identical to Ayrton Senna. Although while Freddie has embraced his father’s helmet design, Mathias has a Red Bull liveried helmet.

To pay additional homage, their Revolution prototype race cars are also decked out in their respective liveries of their father’s 1976 cars – the red and white McLaren M23 and the red, white & green striped Ferrari 312T2. The race itself turned out to be action packed.

At least the on track tussle between Freddie Hunt v Mathias Lauda has proven to be bit more competitive than the most recent battles of the F1 sons – (Max) Verstappen v (Mick) Schumacher in 2021 and 2022…

Aside from the DVD, you can also watch this on various streaming platforms like Apple+ TV. It’s entertaining to watch, particularly for racing enthusiasts rather than F1 fans.