1976 Formula One season

1976 Formula One season

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[[1975 |1975]]

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[[1977 |1977]]

• Races by country
• Races by venue

The 1976 Formula One season included the 27th FIA Formula One World Championship season, which commenced on January 25, 1976, and ended on October 24 after sixteen races.

Season summary

In an extraordinarily political season the world championship went to James Hunt by one point from Niki Lauda, although Ferrari took the constructors' title. Controversy began in Spain where Hunt was initially disqualified from first place, giving the race to Lauda, only for the decision to be overturned on appeal months later. The six wheeled Tyrrell confounded the sceptics by winning in Sweden, with Lauda third and Hunt fifth.

Hunt won in France and, it seemed, in Britain, but the race had been restarted after a first lap pile-up and Hunt re-started in a spare car which was against the rules. He was eventually disqualified after an appeal from Ferrari, whose own driver, Regazzoni, had also re-started in a spare. Lauda became the official race winner.

Lauda then crashed heavily in Germany and appeared likely to die from his injuries. Hunt won the race and finished fourth to John Watson's Penske (the team's only win) in Austria. Miraculously, Lauda returned to finish fourth in Italy, where Hunt, Jochen Mass and Watson were relegated to the back of the grid for alleged infringements of the regulations.

Hunt won in Canada and in the USA but Lauda took third to lead Hunt by three points going into the final race. In appalling weather conditions Mario Andretti won, Lauda gave up because of the hazardous conditions, and Hunt eventually finished third to take the title.

Chris Amon, drove his last grand prix in Germany, failing to win a single championship race. The 1976 Wolf-Williams cars were originally Heskeths, and Williams had left the team by September. The Boro-Ford team was renamed Ensign-Ford.

Season review

The Driver's championship was won by James Hunt from Niki Lauda, who had to miss several races as a result of an injury sustained in a crash at the German Grand Prix.

Rnd	Race	Date	Location	Winning driver	Constructor	Report
1	Brazilian Grand Prix	January 25	Interlagos	Niki Lauda	Ferrari	Report
2	South African Grand Prix	March 6	Kyalami	Niki Lauda	Ferrari	Report
3	United States Grand Prix West	March 28	Long Beach	Clay Regazzoni	Ferrari	Report
4	Spanish Grand Prix	May 2	Jarama	James Hunt	McLaren-Ford	Report
5	Belgian Grand Prix	May 16	Zolder	Niki Lauda	Ferrari	Report
6	Monaco Grand Prix	May 30	Monaco	Niki Lauda	Ferrari	Report
7	Swedish Grand Prix	June 13	Scandinavian Raceway	Jody Scheckter	Tyrrell-Ford	Report
8	French Grand Prix	July 4	Paul Ricard	James Hunt	McLaren-Ford	Report
9	British Grand Prix	July 18	Brands Hatch	Niki Lauda	Ferrari	Report
10	German Grand Prix	August 1	Nürburgring	James Hunt	McLaren-Ford	Report
11	Austrian Grand Prix	August 15	Österreichring	John Watson	Penske-Ford	Report
12	Dutch Grand Prix	August 29	Zandvoort	James Hunt	McLaren-Ford	Report
13	Italian Grand Prix	September 12	Monza	Ronnie Peterson	March-Ford	Report
14	Canadian Grand Prix	October 3	Mosport	James Hunt	McLaren-Ford	Report
15	United States Grand Prix	October 10	Watkins Glen	James Hunt	McLaren-Ford	Report
16	Japanese Grand Prix	October 24	Fuji Speedway	Mario Andretti	Lotus-Ford	Report

1976 Constructors Championship final standings

Place	Constructor	Chassis	Engine	Tyre	Points	Wins	Podiums	Poles
1	Ferrari	312T 312T2	Ferrari 015		83	6	13	4
2	McLaren-Ford	M23 M26	Ford Cosworth DFV		74 (75)	6	10	8
3	Tyrrell-Ford	007 P34	Ford Cosworth DFV		71	1	12	2
4	Lotus-Ford	77	Ford Cosworth DFV		29	1	5	1
5	Penske-Ford	PC3 PC4	Ford Cosworth DFV		20	1	3
6	Ligier-Matra	JS5	Matra MS73		20		3	1
7	March-Ford	761	Ford Cosworth DFV		19	1	1	1
8	Shadow-Ford	DN5B DN8	Ford Cosworth DFV		10		1
9	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	BT45	Alfa Romeo 115-12		9
10	Surtees-Ford	TS19	Ford Cosworth DFV		7
11	Fittipaldi-Ford	FD04	Ford Cosworth DFV		3
12	Ensign-Ford	N174 N176	Ford Cosworth DFV		2
13	Parnelli-Ford	VPJ4B	Ford Cosworth DFV		1
14	Wolf-Williams-Ford	FW05	Ford Cosworth DFV
15	Williams-Ford	FW04	Ford Cosworth DFV
16	Kojima-Ford	KE007	Ford Cosworth DFV
17	Hesketh-Ford	308D	Ford Cosworth DFV
18	Maki-Ford	F102A	Ford Cosworth DFV
19	BRM	P201B	BRM P200
20	Brabham-Ford	BT44B	Ford Cosworth DFV
21	Boro-Ford	001	Ford Cosworth DFV

1976 Drivers Championship final standings

Pos Driver BRA RSA USW ESP BEL MON SWE FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA CAN USA JPN Pts 1 James Hunt Ret 2 Ret 1 Ret Ret 5 1 DSQ 1 4 1 Ret 1 1 3 69 2 Niki Lauda 1 1 2 2 1 1 3 Ret 1 Ret 4 8 3 Ret 68 3 Jody Scheckter 5 4 Ret Ret 4 2 1 6 2 2 Ret 5 5 4 2 Ret 49 4 Patrick Depailler 2 9 3 Ret Ret 3 2 2 Ret Ret Ret 7 6 2 Ret 2 39 5 Clay Regazzoni 7 Ret 1 11 2 14 6 Ret Ret 9 2 2 6 7 5 31 6 Mario Andretti Ret 6 Ret Ret Ret Ret 5 Ret 12 5 3 Ret 3 Ret 1 22 7 John Watson Ret 5 NC Ret 7 10 Ret 3 3 7 1 Ret 11 10 6 Ret 20 8 Jacques Laffite Ret Ret 4 12 3 12 4 14 Ret Ret 2 Ret 3 Ret Ret 7 20 9 Jochen Mass 6 3 5 Ret 6 5 11 15 Ret 3 7 9 Ret 5 4 Ret 19 10 Gunnar Nilsson Ret Ret 3 Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret 5 3 Ret 13 12 Ret 6 11 11 Ronnie Peterson Ret Ret 10 Ret Ret Ret 7 19 Ret Ret 6 Ret 1 9 Ret Ret 10 12 Tom Pryce 3 7 Ret 8 10 7 9 8 4 8 Ret 4 8 11 Ret Ret 10 13 Hans-Joachim Stuck 4 12 Ret Ret Ret 4 Ret 7 Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret 5 Ret 8 14 Carlos Pace 10 Ret 9 6 Ret 9 8 4 8 4 Ret Ret Ret 7 Ret Ret 7 15 Alan Jones NC 9 5 Ret 13 Ret 5 10 Ret 8 12 16 8 4 7 16 Carlos Reutemann 12 Ret Ret 4 Ret Ret Ret 11 Ret Ret Ret Ret 9 3 17 Emerson Fittipaldi 13 17 6 Ret DNQ 6 Ret Ret 6 13 Ret Ret 15 Ret 9 Ret 3 18 Chris Amon 14 8 5 Ret 13 Ret Ret Ret 2 19 Vittorio Brambilla Ret 8 Ret Ret Ret Ret 10 Ret Ret Ret Ret 6 7 14 Ret Ret 1 20 Rolf Stommelen 6 12 Ret 1 21 Harald Ertl 15 DNQ DNQ Ret DNQ Ret Ret 7 Ret 8 Ret 16 DNS 13 8 0 22 Jean-Pierre Jarier Ret Ret 7 Ret 9 8 12 12 9 11 Ret 10 19 18 10 10 0 23 Jacky Ickx 8 16 DNQ 7 DNQ DNQ 10 DNQ Ret 10 13 Ret 0 24 Larry Perkins 13 8 DNQ Ret Ret Ret 17 Ret Ret 0 25 Henri Pescarolo DNQ Ret Ret DNQ 9 11 17 19 NC 0 26 Arturo Merzario DNQ Ret Ret DNQ 14 9 Ret Ret Ret Ret DNS Ret Ret Ret 0 27 Renzo Zorzi 9 0 28 Noritake Takahara 9 0 29 Michel Leclère 13 DNQ 10 11 11 Ret 13 0 30 Brett Lunger 11 DNQ DNQ Ret 15 16 Ret Ret 10 14 15 11 0 31 Bob Evans 10 DNQ 0 32 Alessandro Pesenti-Rossi 14 11 DNQ 18 0 33 Ingo Hoffmann 11 DNQ DNQ DNQ 0 34 Masahiro Hasemi 11 0 35 Loris Kessel DNQ 12 Ret DNQ NC 0 36 Lella Lombardi 14 DNQ DNQ 12 0 37 Alex Ribeiro 12 0 38 Warwick Brown 14 0 39 Guy Edwards DNQ 17 Ret 15 DNS 20 0 40 Patrick Nève Ret 18 0 — Hans Binder Ret Ret 0 — Ian Ashley Ret 0 — Ian Scheckter Ret 0 — Boy Hayje Ret 0 — Conny Andersson Ret 0 — Kazuyoshi Hoshino Ret 0 — Otto Stuppacher DNS DNQ DNQ 0 — Emilio de Villota DNQ 0 — Emilio Zapico DNQ 0 — Damien Magee DNQ 0 — Mike Wilds DNQ 0 — Divina Galica DNQ 0 — Tony Trimmer DNQ 0 Pos Driver BRA RSA USW ESP BEL MON SWE FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA CAN USA JPN Pts

Key Colour Result Gold Winner Silver Second place Bronze Third place Green Other points position Blue Other classified position Not classified, finished (NC) Purple Not classified, retired (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Race cancelled (C) Light blue Practiced only (PO) Thursday/Friday test driver (TD) (from 2003 onwards) Blank Did not practice (DNP) Excluded (EX) Did not arrive (DNA) Withdrawn (WD) Text formatting Meaning Bold Pole position Italics Fastest lap Superscript Sprint race result Abbreviation Meaning WDC World Drivers' Championship position WCC World Constructors' Championship position NC Not classified

Non-Championship race results

Other Formula One races were also held in 1976, which did not count towards the World Championship.

Race Name	Circuit	Date	Winning driver	Constructor	Report
XI Race of Champions	Brands Hatch	March 14	James Hunt	McLaren-Cosworth	Report
XXVIII BRDC International Trophy	Silverstone	April 11	James Hunt	McLaren-Cosworth	Report