Sarah Ferguson's 'screams of passion' during wild sex kept F1 legend awake all night

A risqu tale from the former Duchess of York's days on the Formula One racing circuit has resurfaced with the death of her long-time boyfriend Paddy McNally

Michael Moran Audience Writer

12:41, 28 Jul 2026Updated 13:09, 28 Jul 2026

[WINDSOR, ENGLAND - APRIL 20: Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York attends the Easter Sunday Mattins Service at St George's Chapel on April 20, 2025 in Windsor, England. (Photo by Karwai Tang/WireImage)]

Sarah was a regular on the F1 circuit(Image: Karwai Tang, WireImagevia Getty Images)

Long before she met Prince Andrew, as he was then known, Sarah Ferguson was the "thumping great Sloane" at the side of motor racing entrepreneur Paddy McNally. When he failed to find success on the track, McNally shrewdly pivoted into the Formula One hospitality business and built himself a fortune estimated, at the time of his death last week, to be worth some 600million.

They dated between 1982 and 1985, but even after their split Sarah remained on good terms with the ex-boyfriend she nicknamed "The Toad." And in their three years together, their sex life was remarkably lively, according to former F1 world champion James Hunt.

Hunt's own sex life is a thing of legend, having once supposedly slept with more than 5,000 women, including 33 British Airways stewards across just two weeks.

Yet nothing, according to him, compared to what Fergie sounded like. McNally had briefly worked as an assistant to the 1976 world champion, despite Hunt branding him a "chancer," and once or twice they had booked neighbouring hotel rooms. Hunt knew perhaps more than most about the

In the Daily Mail, Caroline Graham writes: "James told me he'd had the misfortune to stay in a hotel room next to Fergie and her lover during one of that season's races and described her as 'the loudest woman I've ever heard'.

"He was furious because her screams of passion had kept him awake all night," Caroline added. "James would yell: 'Oh Paddy! Oh Paddy!' every time Fergie walked past. To her credit, she took it in good humour."

[Sarah Ferguson (GBR) Duchess of York with Paddy McNally (IRE) Allsport Management. Formula One World Championship, Rd9, British Grand Prix, Silverstone, England, 13 July 1997. (Photo by Sutton Images)]

She remained close to McNally after their split(Image: Sutton Images, Sutton Imagesvia Getty Images)

Sarah had met the F1 "chancer" when she worked as a nanny for his two sons, Sean and Rollo. Even though he was some 22 years her senior, Sarah had reportedly dreamed of marrying him, finally abandoning her hope when, after three years together, McNally rejected an ultimatum she gave him at the 1985 Italian Grand Prix.

After Sarah demanded "Marry me or else," Hunt told Caroline: "Of course, Paddy chose the 'Or else'."

But the relationship ended on good terms. "Paddy always looked after Sarah, and at times over the past four decades she needed a lot of looking after," a source told The Sun.

"He never abandoned her in life and, even in his final days, he allowed her safe sanctuary at his home in Verbier." McNally's notorious Swiss ski chalet was known to insiders as "the cocaine castle."

[James Hunt, John Watson, Grand Prix of France, Paul Ricard, 04 July 1976. (Photo by Bernard Cahier/Getty Images)]

James Hunt was a playboy racing driver of the old school(Image: Bernard Cahier, Getty Images)

Sarah said of her ex-boyfriend: "He taught me so much about life. "Whenever I wanted advice, I turned to him because he was so worldly wise. He seemed to have seen and done everything."

McNally had valued Sarah for her royal connections her father had been polo manager, initially to the Duke of Edinburgh and then, for many years, Charles, Prince of Wales, now our current King.

And a few months after splitting from McNally, Sarah's royal connections became far stronger when she met Prince Andrew, then the most eligible man in the country as second-in-line to the throne and a bona fide war hero.

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While Andrew and Sarah's reputations have both declined dramatically in recent years they were, for McNally among his valuable social contacts.

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