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.
Qualifying
Qualifying classification Pos.No.DriverConstructorTimeNo111 James HuntMcLaren-Ford2:32.50121 Niki LaudaFerrari2:32.522317 Jean-Pierre JarierShadow-Ford2:32.66342 Clay RegazzoniFerrari2:33.174530 Emerson FittipaldiFittipaldi-Ford2:33.335612 Jochen MassMcLaren-Ford2:33.59679 Vittorio BrambillaMarch-Ford2:33.637828 John WatsonPenske-Ford2:33.87894 Patrick DepaillerTyrrell-Ford2:34.499108 Carlos PaceBrabham-Alfa Romeo2:34.54101126 Jacques LaffiteLigier-Matra2:34.67111216 Tom PryceShadow-Ford2:34.8412133 Jody ScheckterTyrrell-Ford2:35.02131434 Hans-Joachim StuckMarch-Ford2:35.3814157 Carlos ReutemannBrabham-Alfa Romeo2:35.9715166 Mario AndrettiLotus-Ford2:36.01161721 Renzo ZorziWolf-Williams-Ford2:37.0717185 Ronnie PetersonLotus-Ford2:37.19181920 Jacky IckxWolf-Williams-Ford2:37.62192031 Ingo HoffmannFittipaldi-Ford2:40.25202114 Ian AshleyBRM2:40.94212210 Lella LombardiMarch-Ford2:40.9522
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. Clay Regazzoni in the second Ferrari took the lead at the start. Lotus teammates Andretti and Peterson collided on the first lap, both retiring as a result. Lauda was still in the lead ahead of Hunt and Jarier. 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. 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.
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 17 Jean-Pierre Jarier Shadow-Ford 33 Accident 3 11 James Hunt McLaren-Ford 32 Throttle/Accident 1 9 Vittorio Brambilla March-Ford 15 Oil Leak 7 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra 14 Transmission 11 5 Ronnie Peterson Lotus-Ford 10 Accident 18 6 Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford 6 Accident 16 28 John Watson Penske-Ford 2 Fuel System 8 14 Ian Ashley BRM 2 Oil Pump 21
Notes
This was the Formula One World Championship debut for Brazilian driver Ingo Hoffmann (record holder of titles in the Stock Car Pro Series in Brazil). This was the 5th pole position for British constructor McLaren. This was the Formula One World Championship debut for British-Canadian constructor Wolf-Williams and French constructor Ligier. This race marked the 5th podium finish for British-American constructor Shadow.
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 2Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Ferrari 9 2 Tyrrell-Ford 6 3 Shadow-Ford 4 4 March-Ford 3 5 McLaren-Ford 1Source:
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References