1976 Spanish Grand Prix Explained

Type:F1
Country:Spain
Flag Suffix:1945
Grand Prix:Spanish
Previous Round:1976 United States Grand Prix West
Next Round:1976 Belgian Grand Prix
Official Name:XXII Gran Premio de España[1]
Date:2 May
Year:1976
Race No:4
Season No:16
Location:Jarama, Spain
Course:Permanent racing facility
Course Mi:2.115
Course Km:3.404
Distance Laps:75
Distance Mi:158.625
Distance Km:255.3
Pole Driver:James Hunt
Pole Country:GBR
Pole Time:1:18.52[2]
Fast Driver:Jochen Mass
Fast Country:FRG
Fast Time:1:20.93
Fast Lap:52[3]
First Driver:James Hunt
First Country:GBR
First Team:McLaren-Ford
Second Driver:Niki Lauda
Second Country:AUT
Second Team:Ferrari
Third Driver:Gunnar Nilsson
Third Country:Sweden
Third Team:Lotus-Ford

The 1976 Spanish Grand Prix (formally the XXII Gran Premio de España) was a Formula One motor race held at the Circuito del Jarama in Madrid, Spain on 2 May 1976. The race was the fourth round of the 1976 Formula One season. The race was the 22nd Spanish Grand Prix and the sixth to be held at Jarama. The race was held over 75 laps of the 3.404-kilometre circuit for a total race distance of 255 kilometres.

Initially the declared winner was Austrian Ferrari driver Niki Lauda driving a Ferrari 312T2 extending his Drivers' Championship lead to 23 points after first across the line James Hunt had his McLaren M23 disqualified in post-race scrutineering. Swedish driver Gunnar Nilsson took his Lotus 77 to second place with Carlos Reutemann finishing third in his Brabham BT45.

McLaren appealed the disqualification and in July the appeal was upheld and Hunt re-instated as winner of the Spanish Grand Prix.

Summary

As the European season began, new cars were launched as organisers were due to start enforcing new regulations for 1976 having allowed an easing in period over the first three races. There was a big talking point as the Tyrrell team entered a new P34 six-wheeler for Patrick Depailler. Depailler was on the pace and qualified third, behind Hunt and Lauda. Lauda, driving with broken ribs after an accident driving a tractor once again beat Hunt off the line at the start and led for the first third of the race. Depailler, after a slow start, was running fourth behind Mass when he spun off and crashed with brake problems. Just before mid-race, the McLarens of Hunt and Mass found another gear and drove past Lauda, but towards the end of the race, Mass had to retire with an engine failure. Hunt took his first win of the season, with Lauda second and Gunnar Nilsson's Lotus third.

After the race, scrutineers examined the bulk of the field and Hunt was disqualified because his McLaren was found to be too wide and Lauda was declared the winner. One of the new rules which came into force on 1 May 1976 defined how wide a Formula One car could be. McLaren appealed the decision. Two months after the race, McLaren's appeal was successful as the tribunal considered that the 1.5 cm difference was "minimal" and Hunt was reinstated as the winner of the Spanish Grand Prix.[4]

On the same day in the US, McLaren's USAC team won the Indy car race at Trenton Speedway with driver Johnny Rutherford in an M16-Offenhauser, thus accomplishing the rare feat of winning both a Formula 1 Grand Prix and an Indy car race on the same day.[5]

Chris Amon's 5th place made him the last driver from New Zealand to score points in Formula One until Brendon Hartley finished 10th in the 2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix some 42 years later.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos.DriverConstructorTime/Gap
1 James HuntMcLarenFord1:18.52
2 Niki LaudaFerrari+0.32
3 Patrick DepaillerTyrrellFord+0.59
4 Jochen MassMcLarenFord+0.62
5 Clay RegazzoniFerrari+0.63
6 Vittorio BrambillaMarchFord+0.75
7 Gunnar NilssonLotusFord+0.83
8 Jacques LaffiteLigierMatra+0.87
9 Mario AndrettiLotusFord+1.07
10 Chris AmonEnsignFord+1.31
11 Carlos PaceBrabhamAlfa Romeo+1.41
12 Carlos ReutemannBrabhamAlfa Romeo+1.60
13 John WatsonPenskeFord+1.65
14 Jody ScheckterTyrrellFord+1.67
15 Jean-Pierre JarierShadowFord+1.69
16 Ronnie PetersonMarchFord+1.82
17 Hans-Joachim StuckMarchFord+1.88
18 Arturo MerzarioMarchFord+2.11
19 Emerson FittipaldiFittipaldiFord+2.19
20 Alan JonesSurteesFord+2.35
21 Jacky IckxWolf-WilliamsFord+2.61
22 Tom PryceShadowFord+2.67
23 Michel LeclèreWolf-WilliamsFord+2.77
24 Larry PerkinsBoroFord+3.00
25 Brett LungerSurteesFord+3.44
26 Loris KesselBrabhamFord+3.53
27 Emilio ZapicoWilliamsFord+3.70
28 Emilio de VillotaBrabhamFord+4.37
29 Harald ErtlHeskethFord+4.40
30 Ingo HoffmannFittipaldiFord+34.60
Source:[6]
*Drivers with a red background failed to qualify

Race

Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
111 James HuntMcLaren-Ford751:42:20.4319
21 Niki LaudaFerrari75+ 30.9726
36 Gunnar NilssonLotus-Ford75+ 48.0274
47 Carlos ReutemannBrabham-Alfa Romeo74+ 1 lap123
522 Chris AmonEnsign-Ford74+ 1 lap102
68 Carlos PaceBrabham-Alfa Romeo74+ 1 lap111
720 Jacky IckxWolf-Williams-Ford74+ 1 lap21
816 Tom PryceShadow-Ford74+ 1 lap22
919 Alan JonesSurtees-Ford74+ 1 lap20
1021 Michel LeclèreWolf-Williams-Ford73+ 2 laps23
112 Clay RegazzoniFerrari72+ 3 laps5
1226 Jacques LaffiteLigier-Matra72+ 3 laps8
1337 Larry PerkinsBoro-Ford72+ 3 laps24
Ret12 Jochen MassMcLaren-Ford65Engine4
Ret17 Jean-Pierre JarierShadow-Ford61Electrical15
Ret3 Jody ScheckterTyrrell-Ford53Engine14
Ret28 John WatsonPenske-Ford51Engine13
Ret35 Arturo MerzarioMarch-Ford36Gearbox18
Ret5 Mario AndrettiLotus-Ford34Gearbox9
Ret4 Patrick DepaillerTyrrell-Ford25Accident3
Ret9 Vittorio BrambillaMarch-Ford21Suspension6
Ret34 Hans Joachim StuckMarch-Ford16Gearbox17
Ret10 Ronnie PetersonMarch-Ford11Transmission16
Ret30 Emerson FittipaldiFittipaldi-Ford3Transmission19
DNQ18 Brett LungerSurtees-Ford
DNQ32 Loris KesselBrabham-Ford
DNQ25 Emilio ZapicoWilliams-Ford
DNQ33 Emilio de VillotaBrabham-Ford
DNQ24 Harald ErtlHesketh-Ford
DNQ31 Ingo HoffmannFittipaldi-Ford

Championship standings after the race

Points shown represent points standings after the race when Hunt was disqualified. His nine points for winning the race were not re-instated until much later in the season.

Drivers' Championship standings
PosDriverPoints
1 Niki Lauda33<--See note 2 below-->
2 Patrick Depailler10<--See note 2 below-->
3 Clay Regazzoni9
4 Jochen Mass7
5 James Hunt6
Source:[7]
Constructors' Championship standings
PosConstructorPoints
1 Ferrari36
2 Tyrrell-Ford13
3 McLaren-Ford9
4 Lotus-Ford6
5 Brabham-Alfa Romeo4
Source:
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
  • Note 2: Results as shown are before any changes due to decision of stewards.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 1976 Spanish GP. 2 August 2020. www.chicanef1.com.
  2. Book: Lang, Mike . Grand Prix! Vol 3 . Haynes Publishing Group . 1983 . 0-85429-380-9 . 117.
  3. Book: Lang, Mike . Grand Prix! Vol 3 . Haynes Publishing Group . 1983 . 0-85429-380-9 . 119.
  4. News: Hunt Wins Appeal, Spanish Grand Prix. The Indianapolis Star. 6 July 1976. 30 July 2020. Newspapers.com.
  5. Web site: Brown . Allen . Trenton International Speedway, 2 May 1976 « Indy Car . 2024-08-19 . OldRacingCars.com . en.
  6. https://results.motorsportstats.com/results/1976-spanish-grand-prix/classification/2391b446-bd4b-4619-b6f0-583eaa665eaf Formula One 1976 Spanish Grand Prix Classification | Motorsport Stats
  7. Web site: Spain 1976 – Championship • STATS F1. www.statsf1.com. 20 March 2019.