1976 German Grand Prix

 1976 German Grand Prix

Racing data
10th of 16 races of the 1976 Automobile World Championship
Surname:	XXXVIII Grand Prix of Germany
Date:	August 1, 1976
Place:	Nürburg
Course:	Nürburgring
Length:	319.69 km in 14 laps of 22.835 km
Weather:	cloudy, occasional rain
Spectator:	~ 180,000
Pole position
Driver:	James Hunt	McLaren
Time:	7: 06.5 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	Jody Scheckter	Tyrrell
Time:	7: 10.8 min
Podium
First:	James Hunt	McLaren
Second:	Jody Scheckter	Tyrrell
Third:	Jochen Mass	McLaren

The 1976 German Grand Prix took place on August 1st at the Nürburgring and was the tenth race of the 1976 Automobile World Championship .

Reports

background

Clay Regazzoni in the Ferrari 312T2

Rolf Stommelen in the Brabham BT45

Two weeks after the controversially discussed Grand Prix of Great Britain , the 1976 German GP took place for the last time on this traditional track, despite increasing reservations on the part of the drivers about the Nürburgring- Nordschleife, which was classified as out of date in terms of safety equipment and track length .

After Jacky Ickx's resignation , Arturo Merzario took his place at Walter Wolf Racing . Then March Engineering started with only three works cars. The Italian private team Gulf Rondini entered the entry list for a Grand Prix for the first time with a Tyrrell 007 and Formula 1 newcomer Alessandro Pesenti-Rossi .

Rolf Stommelen was announced by the Brabham customer team RAM Racing as a guest starter for his home Grand Prix. He then qualified with one of the two Brabham BT44B used by the team for 15th place on the grid. One of the vehicles was confiscated by the police during training due to a lawsuit that Loris Kessel had filed for outstanding salary payments for his four missions already completed for the team. Brabham team boss Bernie Ecclestone provided Stommelen with the factory team's replacement car at short notice.

training

James Hunt achieved the best practice time and was around a second faster than runner-up Niki Lauda . The fastest lap time of the previous year was missed by around eight seconds. The second row of the grid was made up of Patrick Depailler in a Tyrrell P34 and Hans-Joachim Stuck , who showed a good training performance in front of his home crowd in March 761 , leaving behind the more highly rated Clay Regazzoni , Jacques Laffite , Carlos Pace and Jody Scheckter .

run

Niki Lauda

It had rained until shortly before the start of the race. As a result, all drivers except Jochen Mass decided to use rain tires.

From fifth on the grid, Regazzoni took the lead ahead of Hunt and the well-started Mass. In fourth place, Laffite benefited from the fact that Stuck's vehicle had been taken off the grid due to a damaged clutch. Stuck took up the race with a short delay, however, by being pushed by mechanics at the end of the field.

During the first lap, Regazzoni spun and fell back to fourth place. After just a few kilometers, almost all the pilots realized that, thanks to the drying track conditions, rain tires were no longer needed. Around half of the field then headed for the pit lane at the end of the first lap to have the tires changed. As a result, Mass, who was the only one who had suspected this rapid improvement in track conditions, was in second place behind Ronnie Peterson , who covered another lap on rain tires. After Peterson stopped at the end of the second lap, Mass took the lead in front of Gunnar Nilsson , who was one of the few who still had rain tires at the time, and James Hunt.

Lauda, ​​who had lost several places after a bad start and a comparatively slow pit stop, lost control of his Ferrari on the second lap in the area of ​​the “mine” section, possibly due to a suspension damage. The car broke through several safety fences, was thrown against an earth wall and then slid several meters uncontrollably over the route while the gasoline escaping from the almost full tanks ignited. Guy Edwards , who followed immediately, barely managed to avoid it. The following drivers Brett Lunger and Harald Ertl, however, rammed the wreck. This blocked the route. Edwards, Lunger and Ertl as well as Arturo Merzario , who rushed to their aid, saved Lauda, ​​who had lost his helmet due to the force of the impact, from the burning car. Despite the confusion of the situation, the following racing cars came to a stop in good time before the scene of the accident without any collisions. The race was thus canceled. The other drivers who were in front of Lauda at the time of the accident received this information through the red flag of the race control.

A little later, an ONS security vehicle and an ambulance arrived at the scene of the accident. On the initiative of Hans-Joachim Stuck, the ambulance brought the injured Lauda, ​​who was temporarily conscious, contrary to the usual direction of travel through the second, lesser-known exit of the racetrack on a direct route to the hospital in Adenau . From there, Lauda was flown first to the Bundeswehr Central Hospital in Koblenz and then to a clinic specializing in burns in Ludwigshafen am Rhein .

When the race was restarted, only 20 vehicles competed. In view of the events, Chris Amon spontaneously decided to leave Formula 1. With the conditions now completely dry, Hunt took the lead from Regazzoni, Scheckter, Depailler and Pace. In the area of ​​the “Airfield” section, Peterson had an accident shortly afterwards, but was uninjured. Regazzoni spun again and Depailler went off the track trying to avoid the Ferrari. Pace finished the first lap after an overtaking maneuver against Scheckter in second place behind Hunt, but fell back to fourth behind Scheckter and Regazzoni over the course of the following lap. In the meantime, Vittorio Brambilla had an accident due to a brake defect in the area of ​​the Adenauer bridge without injuring himself.

Mass, who had been in the lead when the race was stopped, overtook fifth-placed Nilsson and fourth-placed Pace one after the other. As a beneficiary of another spin by Regazzoni in the twelfth lap, he finished the newly started race in third place. Carlos Pace, Gunnar Nilsson and Brabham guest driver Rolf Stommelen completed the points.

From the following year, the German Grand Prix was held at the Hockenheimring , the route safety of which was much easier to ensure due to the significantly shorter route length compared to the Nordschleife. However, this decision was already made before the 1976 race. It was therefore not a decision made as a result of the Lauda accident.

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
	77	Rolf Stommelen 1
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	Chris Amon	Ensign N176		G
Hesketh Racing	24	Harald Ertl	Hesketh 308D		G
Penthouse Rizla Racing	25th	Guy Edwards			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	36	Rolf Stommelen 1	Brabham BT44B		G
	37	Lella Lombardi
Team Norev Racing with BS Fabrications	38	Henri Pescarolo	Surtees TS19		G
Scuderia Gulf Rondini	40	Alessandro Pesenti-Rossi	Tyrrell 007		G

¹ Rolf Stommelen was originally registered in the Brabham BT44B with starting number 36 for the RAM Racing team and thus qualified. In the race he drove the Brabham BT45 with the starting number 77, which was available to the Brabham works team as a T-Car .

Classifications

Starting grid

Item	driver	constructor	time	Ø speed	begin
01	James Hunt	McLaren-Ford	7: 06.5	192.746 km / h	01
02	Niki Lauda	Ferrari	7: 07.4	192.340 km / h	02
03	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	7: 08.8	191.712 km / h	03
04th	Hans-Joachim Stuck	March-Ford	7: 09.1	191.578 km / h	04th
05	Clay Regazzoni	Ferrari	7: 09.3	191.488 km / h	05
06th	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	7: 11.3	190.601 km / h	06th
07th	Carlos Pace	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	7: 12.0	190.292 km / h	07th
08th	Jody Scheckter	Tyrrell-Ford	7: 12.2	190.204 km / h	08th
09	Jochen Mass	McLaren-Ford	7: 13.0	189.852 km / h	09
10	Carlos Reutemann	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	7: 14.9	189.023 km / h	10
11	Ronnie Peterson	March-Ford	7: 14.9	189.023 km / h	11
12	Mario Andretti	Lotus Ford	7: 16.1	188.503 km / h	12
13	Vittorio Brambilla	March-Ford	7: 17.7	187.814 km / h	13
14th	Alan Jones	Surtees-Ford	7: 19.9	186.874 km / h	14th
15th	Rolf Stommelen	Brabham-Ford	7: 21.6	186.155 km / h	15th
16	Gunnar Nilsson	Lotus Ford	7: 23.0	185.567 km / h	16
17th	Chris Amon	Ensign-Ford	7: 23.1	185.525 km / h	17th
18th	Tom Pryce	Shadow Ford	7: 23.3	185.441 km / h	18th
19th	John Watson	Penske-Ford	7: 23.5	185.357 km / h	19th
20th	Emerson Fittipaldi	Copersucar-Ford	7: 28.0	183.496 km / h	20th
21st	Arturo Merzario	Wolf-Williams-Ford	7: 28.8	183.168 km / h	21st
22nd	Harald Ertl	Hesketh-Ford	7: 30.0	182.680 km / h	22nd
23	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Shadow Ford	7: 30.9	182.315 km / h	23
24	Brett Lunger	Surtees-Ford	7: 32.7	181.590 km / h	24
25th	Guy Edwards	Hesketh-Ford	7: 38.6	179.254 km / h	25th
26th	Alessandro Pesenti-Rossi	Tyrrell-Ford	7: 48.5	175.466 km / h	26th
DNQ	Lella Lombardi	Brabham-Ford	7: 51.1	174.498 km / h	-
DNQ	Henri Pescarolo	Surtees-Ford	8: 04.2	169.777 km / h	-

run

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap	Failure reason
01	James Hunt	McLaren-Ford	14th	1	1: 41: 42.7	01	7: 11.1
02	Jody Scheckter	Tyrrell-Ford	14th	0	+ 27.7	08th	7: 10.8
03	Jochen Mass	McLaren-Ford	14th	0	+ 52.4	09	7: 12.9
04th	Carlos Pace	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	14th	0	+ 54.2	07th	7: 11.2
05	Gunnar Nilsson	Lotus Ford	14th	0	+1: 57.3	16	7: 14.5
06th	Rolf Stommelen	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	14th	0	+ 2: 30.3	15th	7: 18.8
07th	John Watson	Penske-Ford	14th	0	+ 2: 33.9	19th	7: 19.5
08th	Tom Pryce	Shadow Ford	14th	0	+ 2: 48.2	18th	7: 21.3
09	Clay Regazzoni	Ferrari	14th	0	+ 3: 46.0	05	7: 11.1
10	Alan Jones	Surtees-Ford	14th	0	+ 3: 47.3	14th	7: 19.6
11	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Shadow Ford	14th	0	+ 4: 58.1	23	7: 28.8
12	Mario Andretti	Lotus Ford	14th	1	+ 4: 58.1	12	7: 14.9
13	Emerson Fittipaldi	Copersucar-Ford	14th	0	+ 5: 25.2	20th	7: 30.9
14th	Alessandro Pesenti-Rossi	Tyrrell-Ford	13	0	+ 1 lap	26th	7: 42.8
15th	Guy Edwards	Hesketh-Ford	13	0	+ 1 lap	25th	7: 43.0
-	Arturo Merzario	Wolf-Williams-Ford	03	0	DNF	21st	7: 40.5	Brake defect
-	Vittorio Brambilla	March-Ford	01	0	DNF	13	7: 47.9	accident
-	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	00	0	DNF	03	-	accident
-	Carlos Reutemann	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	00	0	DNF	10	-	defective fuel pump
-	Ronnie Peterson	March-Ford	00	0	DNF	11	-	accident
-	Hans-Joachim Stuck	March-Ford	00	0	DNF	04th	-	Clutch damage
-	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	00	0	DNF	06th	-	Gearbox damage
-	Chris Amon	Ensign-Ford	-	0	DNS	17th	-	Task 2
-	Niki Lauda	Ferrari	-	0	DNS	02	-	Accident 2
-	Brett Lunger	Surtees-Ford	-	0	DNS	24	-	Accident 2
-	Harald Ertl	Hesketh-Ford	-	0	DNS	22nd	-	Accident 2

² Chris Amon, Niki Lauda, ​​Brett Lunger and Harald Ertl only took part in the first start of the race.

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  Jody Scheckter Tyrrell 36 03  James Hunt McLaren 35 04th  Patrick Depailler Tyrrell 26th 05  Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 16 06th  Jochen Mass McLaren 14th 07th  John Watson Penske 10 08th  Jacques Laffite Ligier 10 09  Carlos Pace Brabham 7th

Item driver constructor Points 10  Tom Pryce Shadow 7th 11  Gunnar Nilsson lotus 6th 12  Hans-Joachim Stuck March 6th 13  Alan Jones Surtees 4th 14th  Emerson Fittipaldi Copersucar 3 15th  Mario Andretti Parnelli / Lotus 3 16  Carlos Reutemann Brabham 3 17th  Chris Amon Ensign 2 18th  Rolf Stommelen Brabham 1

Constructors' championship

Item constructor Points 01  Ferrari 64 02  Tyrrell 49 03  McLaren 40 04th  Penske 10 05  Ligier 10 06th  Brabham 9 07th  lotus 8th

Item constructor Points 08th  Shadow 7th 09  March 6th 10  Surtees 4th 11  Copersucar 3 12  Ensign 2 13  Parnelli 1

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Fight at the limit. The Formula 1 Chronicle 1950–2000 , ed. v. Willy Knupp, RTL book edition: Zeitgeist Verlag: Düsseldorf / Gütersloh 2000, ISBN 3-89748-277-0 , p. 193
2. ↑ "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)  
3. ↑ Fight at the limit. The Formula 1 Chronicle 1950–2000 , ed. v. Willy Knupp, RTL book edition: Zeitgeist Verlag: Düsseldorf / Gütersloh 2000, ISBN 3-89748-277-0 , p. 190
4. ^ "Report" (accessed April 9, 2012)
5. ↑ "World Cup stands" ( Memento of the original from May 8, 2014 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

Commons : Grand Prix of Germany 1976  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

• Race result on the official Formula 1 website