James Hunt, Mike Hawthorn and F1's Most Famous Hell-Raisers

From Stirling Moss to James Hunt to Kimi Raikkonen, Formula One has always attracted a certain breed of men who not only wanted to race the fastest cars, but also lived their entire lives in the fast lane. 

Their oversized personalities, as much as their skills behind the wheel, have helped grow F1 into one of the most popular spectator sports on the planet. 

Today, drivers are under intense P.R. controls, but the most popular ones—think Raikkonen or Lewis Hamilton—still allow their personalities to shine through.

Here, then, is a roundup of the biggest hell-raisers in F1 history.

Stirling Moss

Shaun Botterill/Getty Images

Stirling Moss and Lewis Hamilton.

You might not think of Stirling Moss—who told the BBC, "The mental stress I think would be pretty difficult for a lady to deal with in a practical fashion. I just don't think they have aptitude to win a Formula 1 race"—as a lady's man.

But during his racing career, that is exactly what Moss was.

Describing the differences between F1 today and in its first decade, the 1950s, Moss told Richard Bailey of RichardsF1.com, "The thing you’ve got to realise is that when Lewis Hamilton wins a race, he goes and chats up all the people from BlackBerry; when I won a race, it meant I could go and 'chase the crumpet.' So that should give you an idea of how much better the racing was in my era than it is today!"

Mike Hawthorn

Mike Hawthorn was a contemporary of Moss', and there is a good story about the two of them after a night out at the French Grand Prix.

According to the Express, "Moss recalls an occasion when he was standing under a tree outside a pub when he thought it had started to rain. When he looked up he saw Hawthorn poised precariously in the tree, urinating on him."

The same article notes that Hawthorn, "smoked and drank to excess, loved parties and piloted his own plane. But his favourite form of recreation was chasing and seducing Europe’s most beautiful women."

Hawthorn won the world championship in 1958 and then retired, but was killed in a road accident just a few months later.

Innes Ireland

Associated Press

Innes Ireland preparing for a race in 1962.

Innes Ireland broke into F1 the year after Hawthorn retired. He won just once in 50 career starts, but made quite a name for himself off the track.

According to GQ India, Ireland was once:

"

[A]lmost banned from racing in the German Grand Prix, not because he was a danger to other drivers but because, after a win at Solitude, near Stuttgart, a fortnight earlier, he celebrated by climbing on to the roof of a hotel and firing a pistol into the air. Clambering down, he then beat up the hotelier, who refused to serve Ireland any more to drink on the grounds that the bar was closed.

"

Like Moss, Ireland survived F1's deadliest years, although he later lamented to Motor Sport Magazine's Nigel Roebuck that, "I must be one of few Grand Prix drivers who left the sport with less money than when I arrived."

James Hunt

James Hunt is the most famous F1 hell-raiser of them all, and his antics crossed over into the mainstream last year with the release of Ron Howard's film, Rush.

When he won the world championship in 1976, according to the Daily Mail's Tom Rubython, his girlfriend at the time, "...had no idea he’d bedded 33 British Airways ­hostesses and countless young ­Japanese fans during his two-week stay in Tokyo."

In an excerpt from his book, James Hunt: The Biography, posted on his personal blog, longtime F1 journalist Gerald Donaldson recalled a test session at Paul Ricard Circuit in 1977. Hunt had been out partying the night before with Niki Lauda and, with Lauda in the pits and Hunt on track, an alarm went off.

"S--t!" said Lauda. "James is still pissed and must have crashed."

Upon arriving at the scene of the supposed accident, though, Lauda found the car undamaged. He told Donaldson that, "James—the silly a-----e—he parked the car and fell asleep!"

Eddie Irvine

JEROME DELAY/Associated Press

Eddie Irvine celebrating on the podium at the 1997 French Grand Prix.

Moving closer to the present day, we come to Eddie Irvine, who made himself known in his first F1 race, the 1993 Japanese Grand Prix. Irvine passed Ayrton Senna to unlap himself, angering the Brazilian champion and leading to an argument after the race where Senna punched Irvine.

Irvine never won a championship, but he was second to Mika Hakkinen in 1999. According to Claire Furnell of ESPN F1, "He surrounded himself with the ultimate playboy toys, and the women flocked to him."

In a 2002 profile for The Irish Independent, Barry Egan wrote, "For years, Irvine's concept of fidelity seemed to be: have one steady supermodel companion plus whoever else came along."

And just to prove that he hasn't completely mellowed since his retirement from F1, earlier this year, Irvine was convicted on charges from a 2008 brawl in a Milan nightclub. 

Adrian Sutil

Mark Thompson/Getty Images

Adrian Sutil with his girlfriend, Jennifer Becks.

Speaking of nightclub brawls, Adrian Sutil makes this list not for his overall body of work, but for one specific incident.

At a party in Shanghai following the 2011 Chinese Grand Prix, Sutil smashed a champagne flute on Genii Capital CEO Eric Lux. He was eventually convicted of causing grievous bodily harm and given a suspended sentence and £167,000 fine, per the Daily Mail's Graham Smith.

The party was to celebrate Lewis Hamilton's victory in the race and Sutil was there as a friend of Hamilton's. When the Brit failed to testify in Sutil's defence at the trial, though, Sutil told the German paper Bild (via the Daily Mail), "Lewis is a coward. I do not want to be friends with someone like that. He is for me no man."

Kimi Raikkonen

Raikkonen is one of the most popular drivers on the current grid, as much for his penchant to say whatever comes into his mind as for his on-track performances, where his 2007 world championship now seems like a distant memory.

Raikkonen likes to portray himself as the successor to James Hunt, even wearing a helmet with Hunt's distinctive paint job at the 2012 Monaco Grand Prix. So far, he has lived up to that mantle.

One of his best moments came on live TV at the 2006 Brazilian Grand Prix. He missed a pre-race tribute to Michael Schumacher and, asked why by ITV's Martin Brundle (h/t Jalopnik.com), Raikkonen responded, "I was having a s--t."

Another Raikkonen classic came again in Brazil, this time in 2012. After running wide near the end of the race, he attempted to drive down an escape road to return to the track. Finding a closed gate, he was turned around and made his way back to the track.

After the race, per Autosport's Pablo Elizalde, the Finn explained:

"

Where I went off you can get back on the track by going through the support race pitlane, but you have to go through a gate.

I know this as I did the same thing in 2001 and the gate was open that year. Somebody closed it this time.

Next year I'll make sure it's open again.

"

Or, if you want some traditional drunken fun, check out the video above, which allegedly portrays the "Iceman" nearly breaking his neck on a yacht.

Follow me on Twitter for updates when I publish a new article and for other (mostly) F1-related news and banter:

Follow @MatthewWalthert