1976 French Grand Prix

 1976 French Grand Prix

Racing data
8th of 16 races of the 1976 Automobile World Championship
Surname:	LXII Grand Prix de France
Date:	4th July 1976
Place:	Le Castellet
Course:	Circuit Paul Ricard
Length:	313.74 km in 54 laps of 5.81 km
Weather:	sunny and hot
Spectator:	~ 95,000
Pole position
Driver:	James Hunt	McLaren
Time:	1: 47.89 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	Niki Lauda	Ferrari
Time:	1: 51.0 min
Podium
First:	James Hunt	McLaren
Second:	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell
Third:	John Watson	Penske

The 1976 French Grand Prix took place on July 4th at the Paul Ricard Circuit in Le Castellet and was the eighth race of the 1976 World Automobile Championship .

Reports

background

Three weeks after the Swedish Grand Prix , Chris Amon had not recovered from injuries sustained in an accident during that race. Patrick Nève was hired to control the factory ensign at the eighth World Championship round.

The HB Bewaking Systems team did not take part in this race due to lack of money. Jacky Ickx and Henri Pescarolo , who skipped the Swedish GP in favor of the 24 Hours of Le Mans , were on the entry list for the French GP again. Likewise returned Guy Edwards and Ingo Hoffmann back to the participants. In RAM Racing was Jac Nelleman by Damien Magee replaced.

training

With the best time in practice, James Hunt secured the fourth pole position of his career. Next to him, Niki Lauda , who led the world championship standings by a considerable margin, qualified for the front row. The second row was formed by Patrick Depailler and Clay Regazzoni . Carlos Pace achieved fifth place on the grid in the Brabham , which in view of the team's previous results in the 1976 season had to be considered a success.

run

Lauda won the start and took the lead in front of Hunt, Regazzoni, Depailler and Ronnie Peterson . During the first lap the positions changed between Peterson and Depailler. On lap two, Jody Scheckter passed John Watson into sixth place.

On the ninth lap, Lauda retired due to an engine failure. In lap 18 this was repeated for his team-mate Regazzoni. As a result, Hunt led the race by a comfortable margin over Depailler, who, like Scheckter, had in the meantime overtaken Peterson. He now dueled with Watson for fourth place. He won this duel and was finally able to take third place again after Scheckter had technical difficulties with his Tyrrell, but was eliminated a few laps before the end of the race due to problems with the fuel supply. Third place went to Watson, who was able to book his first podium in Formula 1.

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	Patrick Nève	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 PC4	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	G
Copersucar-Fittipaldi	30th	Emerson Fittipaldi	Copersucar FD04		G
	31	Ingo Hoffmann
RAM Racing	32	Lori's cauldron	Brabham BT44B		G
	33	Damien Magee
Team Norev Racing with BS Fabrications	38	Henri Pescarolo	Surtees TS19		G

Classifications

Starting grid

Item	driver	constructor	time	Ø speed	begin
01	James Hunt	McLaren-Ford	1: 47.89	193.864 km / h	01
02	Niki Lauda	Ferrari	1: 48.17	193.362 km / h	02
03	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	1: 48.59	192.614 km / h	03
04th	Clay Regazzoni	Ferrari	1: 48.69	192.437 km / h	04th
05	Carlos Pace	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	1: 48.75	192.331 km / h	05
06th	Ronnie Peterson	March-Ford	1: 49.07	191.767 km / h	06th
07th	Mario Andretti	Lotus Ford	1: 49.19	191.556 km / h	07th
08th	John Watson	Penske-Ford	1: 49.22	191.503 km / h	08th
09	Jody Scheckter	Tyrrell-Ford	1: 49.63	190.787 km / h	09
10	Carlos Reutemann	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	1: 49.79	190.509 km / h	10
11	Vittorio Brambilla	March-Ford	1: 49.79	190.509 km / h	11
12	Gunnar Nilsson	Lotus Ford	1: 49.83	190.440 km / h	12
13	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	1: 50.06	190.042 km / h	13
14th	Jochen Mass	McLaren-Ford	1: 50.10	189.973 km / h	14th
15th	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Shadow Ford	1: 50.12	189.938 km / h	15th
16	Tom Pryce	Shadow Ford	1: 50.27	189.680 km / h	16
17th	Hans-Joachim Stuck	March-Ford	1: 50.31	189.611 km / h	17th
18th	Alan Jones	Surtees-Ford	1: 51.11	188.246 km / h	18th
19th	Jacky Ickx	Wolf-Williams-Ford	1: 51.41	187.739 km / h	19th
20th	Arturo Merzario	March-Ford	1: 51.79	187.101 km / h	20th
21st	Emerson Fittipaldi	Copersucar-Ford	1: 52.11	186.567 km / h	21st
22nd	Michel Leclère	Wolf-Williams-Ford	1: 52.29	186.268 km / h	22nd
23	Brett Lunger	Surtees-Ford	1: 52.41	186.069 km / h	23
24	Henri Pescarolo	Surtees-Ford	1: 52.60	185.755 km / h	24
25th	Guy Edwards	Hesketh-Ford	1: 52.63	185.705 km / h	25th
26th	Patrick Nève	Ensign-Ford	1: 52.82	185.393 km / h	26th
27	Harald Ertl	Hesketh-Ford	?	?	27
DNQ	Damien Magee	Brabham-Ford	1: 53.49	184.298 km / h	-
DNQ	Ingo Hoffmann	Copersucar-Ford	1: 53.78	183.828 km / h	-
DNQ	Lori's cauldron	Brabham-Ford	1: 55.30	181.405 km / h	-

run

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap	Failure reason
01	James Hunt	McLaren-Ford	54	0	1: 40: 58.60	01	1: 51.3
02	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	54	0	+ 11.70	03	1: 51.5
03	John Watson	Penske-Ford	54	0	+ 23.55	08th	1: 51.4
04th	Carlos Pace	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	54	0	+ 24.82	05	1: 51.6
05	Mario Andretti	Lotus Ford	54	0	+ 43.92	07th	1: 51.8
06th	Jody Scheckter	Tyrrell-Ford	54	0	+ 55.07	09	1: 51.8
07th	Hans-Joachim Stuck	March-Ford	54	0	+1: 21.55	17th	1: 52.6
08th	Tom Pryce	Shadow Ford	54	0	+1: 30.67	16	1: 52.9
09	Arturo Merzario	March-Ford	54	0	+1: 53.57	20th	1: 53.2
10	Jacky Ickx	Wolf-Williams-Ford	53	0	+ 1 lap	19th	1: 53.5
11	Carlos Reutemann	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	53	0	+ 1 lap	10	1: 52.9
12	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Shadow Ford	53	0	+ 1 lap	15th	1: 53.2
13	Michel Leclère	Wolf-Williams-Ford	53	0	+ 1 lap	22nd	1: 53.8
14th	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	53	0	+ 1 lap	13	1: 52.2
15th	Jochen Mass	McLaren-Ford	53	1	+ 1 lap	14th	1: 52.9
16	Brett Lunger	Surtees-Ford	53	0	+ 1 lap	23	1: 53.9
17th	Guy Edwards	Hesketh-Ford	53	0	+ 1 lap	25th	1: 54.3
18th	Patrick Nève	Ensign-Ford	53	0	+ 1 lap	26th	1: 54.2
19th	Ronnie Peterson	March-Ford	51	0	DNF	06th	1: 51.7	defective injection pump
-	Alan Jones	Surtees-Ford	44	0	DNF	18th	1: 53.2	Suspension damage
-	Vittorio Brambilla	March-Ford	28	0	DNF	11	1: 52.4	Oil pressure loss
-	Emerson Fittipaldi	Copersucar-Ford	21st	0	DNF	21st	1: 53.7	Oil pressure loss
-	Henri Pescarolo	Surtees-Ford	19th	0	DNF	24	1: 54.0	Suspension damage
-	Clay Regazzoni	Ferrari	17th	0	DNF	04th	1: 51.2	Engine failure
-	Niki Lauda	Ferrari	08th	0	DNF	02	1: 51.0	Engine failure
-	Gunnar Nilsson	Lotus Ford	08th	0	DNF	12	1: 53.5	Clutch damage
-	Harald Ertl	Hesketh-Ford	04th	0	DNF	27	1: 57.3	Differential 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 52 02  James Hunt McLaren 26th 03  Patrick Depailler Tyrrell 26th 04th  Jody Scheckter Tyrrell 24 05  Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 16 06th  Jacques Laffite Ligier 10 07th  Jochen Mass McLaren 10 08th  Hans-Joachim Stuck March 6th 09  John Watson Penske 6th

Item driver constructor Points 10  Gunnar Nilsson lotus 4th 11  Carlos Pace Brabham 4th 12  Tom Pryce Shadow 4th 13  Mario Andretti Parnelli / Lotus 3 14th  Carlos Reutemann Brabham 3 15th  Chris Amon Ensign 2 16  Alan Jones Surtees 2 17th  Emerson Fittipaldi Copersucar 2

Constructors' championship

Item constructor Points 01  Ferrari 55 02  Tyrrell 37 03  McLaren 31 04th  Ligier 10 05  Penske 6th 06th  March 6th 07th  Brabham 6th

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

Individual evidence

1. ↑ "Training" ( memento of the original from January 29, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Motorsportarchiv.de; accessed on March 17, 2012)  
2. ^ "Report" (accessed on March 17, 2012)
3. ↑ "World Cup stands" ( Memento of the original from January 30, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Motorsportarchiv.de; accessed on March 17, 2012)  

Web links

• Race result on the official Formula 1 website