Grand Prix of Austria 1976

 Grand Prix of Austria 1976

Racing data
11th of 16 races of the 1976 Automobile World Championship
Surname:	XIV Grand Prix of Austria
Date:	15th August 1976
Place:	Spielberg
Course:	Österreichring
Length:	319.194 km in 54 laps of 5.911 km
Weather:	cloudy but dry
Spectator:	~ 60,000
Pole position
Driver:	James Hunt	McLaren
Time:	1: 35.02 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	James Hunt	McLaren
Time:	1: 35.91 min
Podium
First:	John Watson	Penske
Second:	Jacques Laffite	Ligier
Third:	Gunnar Nilsson	lotus

The 1976 Austrian Grand Prix took place on August 15 at the Österreichring near Zeltweg and was the eleventh race of the 1976 Automobile World Championship .

Reports

background

Niki Lauda was still in critical condition two weeks after his serious accident at the German Grand Prix . Because of this, as well as in protest against the withdrawal of James Hunt's disqualification at the Spanish Grand Prix shortly before , the Scuderia Ferrari canceled participation in the Austrian GP and even threatened to withdraw from the World Championship. At times there was even discussion of a complete cancellation of the race.

Since Chris Amon had declared his Formula 1 career over, it was time to fill his place in the Ensign Racing team . The cockpit was temporarily given to the local guest starter Hans Binder , who thus made his Grand Prix debut.

With Otto Stuppacher and Karl Oppitzhauser , two more local occasional drivers wanted to take part in their home race in a March 761 and a Tyrrell 007 of the private team ÖASC Racing Team. However, due to the lack of motorsport experience of the two, the nomination was rejected by the organizer.

training

Due to changing weather conditions throughout the weekend, the lap times achieved in the first training session on Friday in dry track conditions were no longer undercut in the course of the remaining training units and therefore counted for the starting grid.

McLaren driver James Hunt was able to hold his own against John Watson on Penske and achieve pole position. The second row was formed by the two Swedes Ronnie Peterson and Gunnar Nilsson . This was followed by Jacques Laffite and Tom Pryce before Vittorio Brambilla and Carlos Pace .

All 25 training participants qualified for the race, as the organizer had planned up to 26 starting places.

run

Despite light rain on the morning of the race day, the track was dry by the time it started. After both opponents had started equally well from the front row, Watson took advantage of the inside lane in the first corner and took the lead from Hunt. Peterson also overtook Hunt shortly afterwards, while Nilsson, Laffite and Pryce were unchanged in fourth, fifth and sixth.

While Peterson took the lead on lap three, Jody Scheckter , who started from tenth place, worked his way up to second place by the seventh lap. Three laps later he took over the top position from Peterson.

When Scheckter was stopped a short time later by a competitor to be lapped, Peterson regained the lead. A little later, Scheckter fell behind Watson again. He managed an overtaking maneuver against Peterson on lap 12, again taking the top position.

In the 15th lap, Scheckter had an accident due to a suspension damage. Then the two Swedes Peterson and Nilsson dueled for second place, the latter taking this position on lap 19.

Laffite overtook both Swedes by the 45th lap and thus came second behind Watson. One lap later, Peterson, who had previously been overtaken by Hunt, fell behind Mario Andretti . The resulting order of the first six remained constant until the finish.

John Watson scored his first Grand Prix victory. It was also the first for the Penske team. As a result, Watson shaved off his beard, delivering on a promise he'd made to team boss Roger Penske in the event of a win.

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
Eleven Team Tyrrell	3	Jody Scheckter	Tyrrell P34	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	G
	4th	Patrick Depailler
John Player Team Lotus	5	Mario Andretti	Lotus 77		G
	6th	Gunnar Nilsson
Martini Racing	7th	Carlos Reutemann	Brabham BT45	Alfa Romeo 115-12 3.0 F12	G
	8th	Carlos Pace
Beta Team March	9	Vittorio Brambilla	March 761	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	G
March engineering	10	Ronnie Peterson			G
	34	Hans-Joachim Stuck
Marlboro Team McLaren	11	James Hunt	McLaren M23		G
	12	Jochen Mass
Shadow Racing with Tabatip	16	Tom Pryce	Shadow DN5B		G
	17th	Jean-Pierre Jarier
Team Surtees	18th	Brett Lunger	Surtees TS19		G
	19th	Alan Jones
Walter Wolf Racing	20th	Arturo Merzario	Williams FW05		G
Team Ensign	22nd	Hans Binder	Ensign N176		G
Hesketh Racing	24	Harald Ertl	Hesketh 308D		G
Ligier Gitanes	26th	Jacques Laffite	Ligier JS5	Matra MS73 3.0 V12	G
Citibank Team Penske	28	John Watson	Penske PC4	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	G
Copersucar-Fittipaldi	30th	Emerson Fittipaldi	Copersucar FD04		G
RAM Racing	32	Lori's cauldron	Brabham BT44B		G
	33	Lella Lombardi
Team Norev Racing with BS Fabrications	38	Henri Pescarolo	Surtees TS19		G
Scuderia Gulf Rondini	40	Alessandro Pesenti-Rossi	Tyrrell 007		G

Classifications

Starting grid

Item	driver	constructor	time	Ø speed	begin
01	James Hunt	McLaren-Ford	1: 35.02	223.949 km / h	01
02	John Watson	Penske-Ford	1: 35.84	222.033 km / h	02
03	Ronnie Peterson	March-Ford	1: 36.34	220.880 km / h	03
04th	Gunnar Nilsson	Lotus Ford	1: 36.46	220.605 km / h	04th
05	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	1: 36.52	220.468 km / h	05
06th	Tom Pryce	Shadow Ford	1: 36.56	220.377 km / h	06th
07th	Vittorio Brambilla	March-Ford	1: 36.59	220.309 km / h	07th
08th	Carlos Pace	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	1: 36.66	220.149 km / h	08th
09	Mario Andretti	Lotus Ford	1: 36.68	220.103 km / h	09
10	Jody Scheckter	Tyrrell-Ford	1: 36.91	219.581 km / h	10
11	Hans-Joachim Stuck	March-Ford	1: 36.95	219.490 km / h	11
12	Jochen Mass	McLaren-Ford	1: 37.22	218.881 km / h	12
13	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	1: 37.24	218.836 km / h	13
14th	Carlos Reutemann	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	1: 37.24	218.836 km / h	14th
15th	Alan Jones	Surtees-Ford	1: 37.60	218.029 km / h	15th
16	Brett Lunger	Surtees-Ford	1: 37.62	217.984 km / h	16
17th	Emerson Fittipaldi	Copersucar-Ford	1: 37.76	217.672 km / h	17th
18th	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Shadow Ford	1: 37.88	217.405 km / h	18th
19th	Hans Binder	Ensign-Ford	1: 38.36	216.344 km / h	19th
20th	Harald Ertl	Hesketh-Ford	1: 39.09	214.750 km / h	20th
21st	Arturo Merzario	Wolf-Williams-Ford	1: 39.33	214.231 km / h	21st
22nd	Henri Pescarolo	Surtees-Ford	1: 39.84	213.137 km / h	22nd
23	Alessandro Pesenti-Rossi	Tyrrell-Ford	1: 40.67	211.380 km / h	23
24	Lella Lombardi	Brabham-Ford	1: 42.25	208.113 km / h	24
25th	Lori's cauldron	Brabham-Ford	1: 56.01	183.429 km / h	25th

run

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap	Failure reason
01	John Watson	Penske-Ford	54	0	1: 30: 07.86	02	1: 36.63
02	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	54	0	+ 10.79	05	1: 36.26
03	Gunnar Nilsson	Lotus Ford	54	0	+ 11.98	04th	1: 37.03
04th	James Hunt	McLaren-Ford	54	0	+ 12.44	01	1: 35.91
05	Mario Andretti	Lotus Ford	54	0	+ 21.49	09	1: 36.39
06th	Ronnie Peterson	March-Ford	54	0	+ 34.34	03	1: 37.36
07th	Jochen Mass	McLaren-Ford	54	0	+ 59.45	12	1: 37.82
08th	Harald Ertl	Hesketh-Ford	53	0	+ 1 lap	20th	1: 38.90
09	Henri Pescarolo	Surtees-Ford	52	0	+ 2 rounds	22nd	1: 41.36
10	Brett Lunger	Surtees-Ford	51	0	DNF	16	1: 38.71	Brake defect
11	Alessandro Pesenti-Rossi	Tyrrell-Ford	51	0	+ 3 rounds	23	1: 49.54
12	Lella Lombardi	Brabham-Ford	50	0	+ 4 rounds	24	1: 43.17
-	Hans Binder	Ensign-Ford	47	0	DNF	19th	1: 39.11	defective throttle cable
-	Lori's cauldron	Brabham-Ford	44	0	NC	25th	1: 41.33	Unrated
-	Vittorio Brambilla	March-Ford	43	1	DNF	07th	1: 38.04	collision
-	Emerson Fittipaldi	Copersucar-Ford	43	0	DNF	17th	1: 40.44	collision
-	Carlos Pace	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	40	0	DNF	18th	1: 37.87	accident
-	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Shadow Ford	40	0	DNF	08th	1: 40.22	Fuel pressure drop
-	Alan Jones	Surtees-Ford	30th	0	DNF	15th	1: 39.18	accident
-	Hans-Joachim Stuck	March-Ford	26th	0	DNF	11	1: 42.41	defective fuel pump
-	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	24	0	DNF	13	1: 40.45	Suspension damage
-	Arturo Merzario	Wolf-Williams-Ford	17th	0	DNF	21st	1: 44.01	accident
-	Tom Pryce	Shadow Ford	14th	0	DNF	06th	1: 45.75	Brake defect
-	Jody Scheckter	Tyrrell-Ford	14th	0	DNF	10	1: 40.54	Suspension damage
-	Carlos Reutemann	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	00	0	DNF	14th	-	Clutch damage

World Cup stands after the race

The first six of the race got 9, 6, 4, 3, 2 and 1 point (s) respectively.

Driver ranking

Item driver constructor Points 01  Niki Lauda Ferrari 61 02  James Hunt McLaren 38 03  Jody Scheckter Tyrrell 36 04th  Patrick Depailler Tyrrell 26th 05  John Watson Penske 19th 06th  Jacques Laffite Ligier 16 07th  Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 16 08th  Jochen Mass McLaren 14th 09  Gunnar Nilsson lotus 10 10  Carlos Pace Brabham 7th

Item driver constructor Points 11  Tom Pryce Shadow 7th 12  Hans-Joachim Stuck March 6th 13  Mario Andretti Parnelli / Lotus 5 14th  Alan Jones Surtees 4th 15th  Carlos Reutemann Brabham 3 16  Emerson Fittipaldi Copersucar 3 17th  Chris Amon Ensign 2 18th  Rolf Stommelen Brabham 1 19th  Ronnie Peterson March 1

Constructors' championship

Item constructor Points 01  Ferrari 64 02  Tyrrell 49 03  McLaren 43 04th  Penske 19th 05  Ligier 16 06th  lotus 12 07th  Brabham 9

Item constructor Points 08th  Shadow 7th 09  March 7th 10  Surtees 4th 11  Copersucar 3 12  Ensign 2 13  Parnelli 1

Individual evidence

1. ↑ "Training" ( Memento of the original from May 8, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Motorsportarchiv.de; accessed on April 9, 2012)  
2. ^ "Report" (accessed April 9, 2012)
3. ↑ “World Cup stands” ( memento of the original from August 25, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Motorsportarchiv.de; accessed on April 9, 2012)  

Web links

• Race result on the official Formula 1 website