1976 Brazilian Grand Prix

  1976 Brazilian Grand Prix

Race details
Race 1 of 16 in the 1976 Formula One season
Date	January 25, 1976
Location	São Paulo, Brazil
Course	permanent racing facility
Course length	7.98 km (4.79 mi)
Distance	40 laps, 319.2 km (191.6 mi)
Weather	Sunny
Pole position
Driver	James Hunt	McLaren-Ford
Time	2:32.50[1]
Fastest lap
Driver	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Shadow-Ford
Time	2:35.07 on lap 31[2]
Podium
First	Niki Lauda	Ferrari
Second	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford
Third	Tom Pryce	Shadow-Ford

The 1976 Brazilian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Interlagos in São Paulo, Brazil on 25 January 1976. It was the opening round of the 1976 Formula One season. The race was the fifth Brazilian Grand Prix and the fourth to be held for the World Drivers' Championship. The race was held over 40 laps of the 7.87-kilometre circuit for a total race distance of 315 kilometres.

The race was won by defending world champion, Niki Lauda, driving a Ferrari 312T. The Austrian driver won his eighth Formula One Grand Prix by 28 seconds over French driver Patrick Depailler in a Tyrrell 007. Second place was Depailler's best finish in almost two years having finished second previously at the 1974 Swedish Grand Prix. Tom Pryce finished third in a Shadow DN5B in his second podium in six months. It would prove to be the season highlight for Pryce and for Shadow Racing Cars. It was their only podium for the season and Pryce would not stand on the podium again.

Summary

For the opening round of the season, James Hunt took pole position in his McLaren M23 with reigning champion Niki Lauda alongside in his Ferrari (which set the tone for the season). Clay Regazzoni in the second Ferrari took the lead at the start. Regazzoni, Lauda, Hunt and Shadow's Jean-Pierre Jarier battled. Regazzoni and Jarier collided, and the former had to pit for repairs. Lauda now led from Hunt and Jarier, but Hunt crashed out due to a sticking throttle, and Jarier did the same a lap later after driving on some oil in the track. Lauda thus started his title defence with victory, with Patrick Depailler second in the Tyrrell, and Tom Pryce completing the podium in the other Shadow. 14 cars were classified finishers including Carlos Reutemann whose Brabham BT45 ran out of fuel with three laps to go.

Emerson Fittipaldi in a Fittipaldi FD04.

Classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	1	Niki Lauda	Ferrari	40	1:45:16.78	2	9
2	4	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	40	+ 21.47	9	6
3	16	Tom Pryce	Shadow-Ford	40	+ 23.84	12	4
4	34	Hans-Joachim Stuck	March-Ford	40	+ 1:28.17	14	3
5	3	Jody Scheckter	Tyrrell-Ford	40	+ 1:56.46	13	2
6	12	Jochen Mass	McLaren-Ford	40	+ 1:58.27	6	1
7	2	Clay Regazzoni	Ferrari	40	+ 2:15.24	4
8	20	Jacky Ickx	Wolf-Williams-Ford	39	+ 1 lap	19
9	21	Renzo Zorzi	Wolf-Williams-Ford	39	+ 1 lap	17
10	8	Carlos Pace	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	39	+ 1 Lap	10
11	31	Ingo Hoffmann	Fittipaldi-Ford	39	+ 1 Lap	20
12	7	Carlos Reutemann	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	37	Out of Fuel	15
13	30	Emerson Fittipaldi	Fittipaldi-Ford	37	+ 3 Laps	5
14	10	Lella Lombardi	March-Ford	36	+ 4 Laps	22
Ret	17	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Shadow-Ford	33	Accident	3
Ret	11	James Hunt	McLaren-Ford	32	Accident	1
Ret	9	Vittorio Brambilla	March-Ford	15	Oil Leak	7
Ret	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	14	Transmission	11
Ret	5	Ronnie Peterson	Lotus-Ford	10	Accident	18
Ret	6	Mario Andretti	Lotus-Ford	6	Accident	16
Ret	28	John Watson	Penske-Ford	2	Fuel System	8
Ret	14	Ian Ashley	BRM	2	Oil Pump	21
Source:[3]

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Niki Lauda 9 2 Patrick Depailler 6 3 Tom Pryce 4 4 Hans-Joachim Stuck 3 5 Jody Scheckter 2

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Ferrari 9 2 Tyrrell-Ford 6 3 Shadow-Ford 4 4 March-Ford 3 5 McLaren-Ford 1

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References