1976 Brazilian Grand Prix

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.

1976 Brazilian Grand Prix
Race 1 of 16 in the 1976 Formula One season
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Race details
Date January 25, 1976
Official name V Grande Prêmio do Brasil[1]
Location São Paulo, Brazil
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 7.960[2] km (4.946 mi)
Distance 40 laps, 318.400[2] km (197.845 mi)
Weather Sunny
Pole position
Driver
McLaren-Ford
Time 2:32.50[3]
Fastest lap
Driver Jean-Pierre Jarier Shadow-Ford
Time 2:35.07 on lap 31[4]
Podium
First
Ferrari
Second
Tyrrell-Ford
Third
Shadow-Ford

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.

Qualifying

Qualifying classification
Pos. Driver Constructor Time No
1 James Hunt McLaren-Ford 2:32,50 1
2 Niki Lauda Ferrari 2:32,52 2
3 Jean-Pierre Jarier Shadow-Ford 2:32,66 3
4 Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 2:33,17 4
5 Emerson Fittipaldi Copersucar-Ford 2:33,33 5
6 Jochen Mass McLaren-Ford 2:33,59 6
7 Vittorio Brambilla March-Ford 2:33,63 7
8 John Watson Penske-Ford 2:33,87 8
9 Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford 2:34,49 9
10 Carlos Pace Brabham-Alfa Romeo 2:34,54 10
11 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra 2:34,67 11
12 Tom Pryce Shadow-Ford 2:34,84 12
13 Jody Scheckter Tyrrell-Ford 2:35,02 13
14 Hans-Joachim Stuck March-Ford 2:35,38 14
15 Carlos Reutemann Brabham-Alfa Romeo 2:35,97 15
16 Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford 2:36,01 16
17 Renzo Zorzi Williams-Ford 2:37,07 17
18 Ronnie Peterson Lotus-Ford 2:37,19 18
19 Jacky Ickx Williams-Ford 2:37,62 19
20 Ingo Hoffmann Copersucar-Ford 2:40,25 20
21 Ian Ashley B.R.M. 2:40,94 21
22 Lella Lombardi March-Ford 2:40,95 22

Race

Summary

For the opening round of the season, James Hunt took his first Formula 1 pole position with reigning champion Niki Lauda alongside in his Ferrari. Emerson Fittipaldi qualified fifth on his debut for his brother Wilson's Copersucar team.[1][3] Clay Regazzoni in the second Ferrari took the lead at the start.[5] Lotus teammates Andretti and Peterson collided on the first lap, both retiring as a result.[6] Lauda was still in the lead ahead of Hunt and Jarier.[7] Hunt crashed out due to a sticking throttle, and Jarier did the same a lap later after driving on some oil in the track from Hunt's car.[6] Fittipaldi's debut race for Copersucar failed to live up to its initial promise, the Brazilian double world champion ending up three laps down after various technical problems. 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.[8]

Emerson Fittipaldi in a Fittipaldi FD04.

Classification
PosNoDriverConstructorLapsTime/RetiredGridPoints
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 Throttle/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:[8]

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

References
  1. "1976 Brazilian GP - Overview". www.chicanef1.com. Retrieved 2020-08-01.
  2. "Brazilian Grand Prix". MotorSport. March 1976. Retrieved 2017-11-13.
  3. "1976 Brazilian GP - Qualifying". www.chicanef1.com. Retrieved 2020-08-01.
  4. "1976 Brazilian GP - Fastest Laps". www.chicanef1.com. Retrieved 2020-08-01.
  5. "Lauda Easily Wins Opening Prix Race". Wilkes-Barre Times Leader. 26 January 1976. Retrieved 1 August 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. "Lauda's Ferrari Winner of Brazilian Grand Prix". The Los Angeles Times. 26 January 1976. Retrieved 1 August 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. "Prix King Lauda Wins '76 Debut". Press and Sun-Bulletin. 26 January 1976. Retrieved 1 August 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. "1976 Brazilian Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 10 December 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  9. "Brazil 1976 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
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