Belgian Grand Prix 1976

 Belgian Grand Prix 1976

Racing data
5th of 16 races of the 1976 Automobile World Championship
Surname:	XXXIV Grote Prijs van Belgie
Date:	May 16, 1976
Place:	Zolder-Terlaemen
Course:	Circuit Zolder
Length:	298.34 km in 70 laps of 4.262 km
Weather:	sunny and warm
Pole position
Driver:	Niki Lauda	Ferrari
Time:	1: 26.55 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	Niki Lauda	Ferrari
Time:	1: 25.98 min
Podium
First:	Niki Lauda	Ferrari
Second:	Clay Regazzoni	Ferrari
Third:	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra

The 1976 Belgian Grand Prix took place on May 16 at the Circuit Zolder in Zolder-Terlaemen and was the fifth race of the 1976 World Automobile Championship .

Reports

background

Two weeks after the winner of the Spanish Grand Prix , James Hunt , was provisionally disqualified, the field of participants had changed only slightly for the fifth World Championship round of the season in Zolder, Belgium.

Tyrrell equipped both regular drivers with the six-wheeled P34 for the first time after Jody Scheckter had started in Spain with the conventional 007 . With the support of his own main sponsor, Guy Edwards received a cockpit in a second factory Hesketh . At RAM Racing , Patrick Nève had the opportunity to take part in his home race as a guest starter.

training

The training was for the umpteenth time by the two Ferrari pilots Niki Lauda and Clay Regazzoni dominated. James Hunt and Patrick Depailler formed the second row, followed by Vittorio Brambilla and Jacques Laffite .

Among the three drivers who failed to qualify for the starting field, which was limited to 26 vehicles, were two former Grand Prix winners, Emerson Fittipaldi and Jacky Ickx .

run

Lauda immediately took the lead and never gave it up until the finish. Hunt briefly took second place. However, it quickly became apparent that the Ferraris were tough to beat that weekend. In the sixth lap Regazzoni regained second place and secured the team a sovereign one-two victory.

Tension arose from the fight for third place, which was initially fought between Laffite, Hunt and Depailler. The positions of the three opponents changed several times. However, after the latter two were eliminated halfway through the race, Laffite was able to secure the podium relatively undisputed. Fourth place was taken by Scheckter, and fifth by Chris Amon . However, a wheel loosened on his Ensign in the 52nd lap, causing the New Zealander to go off the track and overturn without injuring himself. This brought Alan Jones to fifth, ahead of Jochen Mass to sixth.

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
Scuderia Ferrari SpA SEFAC	1	Niki Lauda	Ferrari 312T2	Ferrari 015 3.0 F12	G
	2	Clay Regazzoni
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
Ovoro Team March	35	Arturo Merzario			G
Marlboro Team McLaren	11	James Hunt	McLaren M23		G
	12	Jochen Mass
Shadow Racing Team	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	Jacky Ickx	Williams FW05		G
	21st	Michel Leclère
Team Ensign	22nd	Chris Amon	Ensign N176		G
Hesketh Racing	24	Harald Ertl	Hesketh 308D		G
Penthouse Rizla Racing with Hesketh	25th	Guy Edwards			G
Ligier Gitanes	26th	Jacques Laffite	Ligier JS5	Matra MS73 3.0 V12	G
Citibank Team Penske	28	John Watson	Penske PC3	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	Patrick Nève
HB Bewaking Alarm Systems	37	Larry Perkins	Boro 001		G

Classifications

Starting grid

Item	driver	constructor	time	Ø speed	begin
01	Niki Lauda	Ferrari	1: 26.55	177.276 km / h	01
02	Clay Regazzoni	Ferrari	1: 26.60	177.173 km / h	02
03	James Hunt	McLaren-Ford	1: 26.74	176.887 km / h	03
04th	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	1: 26.91	176.541 km / h	04th
05	Vittorio Brambilla	March-Ford	1: 26.93	176.501 km / h	05
06th	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	1: 27.14	176.075 km / h	06th
07th	Jody Scheckter	Tyrrell-Ford	1: 27.19	175.974 km / h	07th
08th	Chris Amon	Ensign-Ford	1: 27.54	175.271 km / h	08th
09	Carlos Pace	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	1: 27.66	175.031 km / h	09
10	Ronnie Peterson	March-Ford	1: 27.72	174.911 km / h	10
11	Mario Andretti	Lotus Ford	1: 27.75	174.851 km / h	11
12	Carlos Reutemann	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	1: 28.30	173.762 km / h	12
13	Tom Pryce	Shadow Ford	1: 28.37	173.625 km / h	13
14th	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Shadow Ford	1: 28.38	173.605 km / h	14th
15th	Hans-Joachim Stuck	March-Ford	1: 28.41	173.546 km / h	15th
16	Alan Jones	Surtees-Ford	1: 28.44	173.487 km / h	16
17th	John Watson	Penske-Ford	1: 28.44	173.487 km / h	17th
18th	Jochen Mass	McLaren-Ford	1: 28.50	173.369 km / h	18th
19th	Patrick Nève	Brabham-Ford	1: 28.80	172.784 km / h	19th
20th	Larry Perkins	Boro-Ford	1: 28.81	172.764 km / h	20th
21st	Arturo Merzario	March-Ford	1: 28.84	172.706 km / h	21st
22nd	Gunnar Nilsson	Lotus Ford	1: 28.99	172.415 km / h	22nd
23	Lori's cauldron	Brabham-Ford	1: 29.09	172.221 km / h	23
24	Harald Ertl	Hesketh-Ford	1: 29.40	171.624 km / h	24
25th	Michel Leclère	Wolf-Williams-Ford	1: 29.46	171.509 km / h	25th
26th	Brett Lunger	Surtees-Ford	1: 29.76	170.936 km / h	26th
DNQ	Emerson Fittipaldi	Copersucar-Ford	1: 29.81	170.841 km / h	-
DNQ	Jacky Ickx	Wolf-Williams-Ford	1: 30.61	169.332 km / h	-
DNQ	Guy Edwards	Hesketh-Ford	1: 30.77	169.034 km / h	-

run

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap	Failure reason
01	Niki Lauda	Ferrari	70	0	1: 42: 53.23	01	1: 25.98
02	Clay Regazzoni	Ferrari	70	0	+ 3.46	02	1: 26.41
03	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	70	0	+ 35.38	06th	1: 26.51
04th	Jody Scheckter	Tyrrell-Ford	70	0	+ 1: 31.00	07th	1: 27.87
05	Alan Jones	Surtees-Ford	69	0	+ 1 lap	16	1: 28.02
06th	Jochen Mass	McLaren-Ford	69	0	+ 1 lap	18th	1: 27.64
07th	John Watson	Penske-Ford	69	0	+ 1 lap	17th	1: 27.51
08th	Larry Perkins	Boro-Ford	69	0	+ 1 lap	20th	1: 28.52
09	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Shadow Ford	69	0	+ 1 lap	14th	1: 28.53
10	Tom Pryce	Shadow Ford	68	0	+ 2 rounds	13	1: 29.33
11	Michel Leclère	Wolf-Williams-Ford	68	0	+ 2 rounds	25th	1: 30.09
12	Lori's cauldron	Brabham-Ford	63	1	+ 7 rounds	23	1: 30.89
-	Brett Lunger	Surtees-Ford	62	0	DNF	26th	1: 30.81	Fuel pressure drop
-	Carlos Pace	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	58	0	DNF	09	1: 28.93	defective battery
-	Chris Amon	Ensign-Ford	51	0	DNF	08th	1: 27.62	accident
-	James Hunt	McLaren-Ford	35	0	DNF	03	1: 29.00	Gearbox damage
-	Hans-Joachim Stuck	March-Ford	33	0	DNF	15th	1: 29.28	Suspension damage
-	Harald Ertl	Hesketh-Ford	31	0	DNF	24	1: 31.12	Engine failure
-	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	29	0	DNF	04th	1: 28.60	Engine failure
-	Mario Andretti	Lotus Ford	28	0	DNF	11	1: 27.05	broken universal joint
-	Patrick Nève	Brabham-Ford	26th	0	DNF	19th	1: 30.45	Gearbox damage
-	Arturo Merzario	March-Ford	21st	3	DNF	21st	1: 30.33	Engine failure
-	Carlos Reutemann	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	17th	0	DNF	12	1: 29.84	Oil pressure loss
-	Ronnie Peterson	March-Ford	16	0	DNF	10	1: 29.89	accident
-	Gunnar Nilsson	Lotus Ford	07th	0	DNF	22nd	1: 31.04	accident
-	Vittorio Brambilla	March-Ford	06th	0	DNF	05	1: 30.21	broken half-wave

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 39 02  Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 15th 03  James Hunt McLaren 15th 04th  Patrick Depailler Tyrrell 10 05  Jody Scheckter Tyrrell 8th 06th  Jochen Mass McLaren 8th 07th  Jacques Laffite Ligier 7th 08th  Gunnar Nilsson lotus 4th 09  Tom Pryce Shadow 4th

Item driver constructor Points 10  Hans-Joachim Stuck March 3 11  Carlos Reutemann Brabham 3 12  Chris Amon Ensign 2 13  John Watson Penske 2 14th  Alan Jones Surtees 2 15th  Carlos Pace Brabham 1 16  Emerson Fittipaldi Copersucar 1 17th  Mario Andretti Parnelli 1

Constructors' championship

Item constructor Points 01  Ferrari 42 02  McLaren 19th 03  Tyrrell 16 04th  Ligier 7th 05  Shadow 4th 06th  lotus 4th 07th  March 3

Item constructor Points 08th  Brabham 3 09  Ensign 2 10  Penske 2 11  Surtees 2 12  Parnelli 1 13  Copersucar 1

Individual evidence

1. ↑ "Training"  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Motorsportarchiv.de; accessed on February 18, 2012)  
2. ^ "Report" (accessed on February 18, 2012)
3. ↑ "World Cup stands"  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Motorsportarchiv.de; accessed on February 18, 2012)  

Web links

• Race result on the official Formula 1 website