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.
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.
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. Driver Constructor Time/Gap 1 James Hunt McLaren–Ford 1:18.52 2 Niki Lauda Ferrari +0.32 3 Patrick Depailler Tyrrell–Ford +0.59 4 Jochen Mass McLaren–Ford +0.62 5 Clay Regazzoni Ferrari +0.63 6 Vittorio Brambilla March–Ford +0.75 7 Gunnar Nilsson Lotus–Ford +0.83 8 Jacques Laffite Ligier–Matra +0.87 9 Mario Andretti Lotus–Ford +1.07 10 Chris Amon Ensign–Ford +1.31 11 Carlos Pace Brabham–Alfa Romeo +1.41 12 Carlos Reutemann Brabham–Alfa Romeo +1.60 13 John Watson Penske–Ford +1.65 14 Jody Scheckter Tyrrell–Ford +1.67 15 Jean-Pierre Jarier Shadow–Ford +1.69 16 Ronnie Peterson March–Ford +1.82 17 Hans-Joachim Stuck March–Ford +1.88 18 Arturo Merzario March–Ford +2.11 19 Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi–Ford +2.19 20 Alan Jones Surtees–Ford +2.35 21 Jacky Ickx Wolf-Williams–Ford +2.61 22 Tom Pryce Shadow–Ford +2.67 23 Michel Leclère Wolf-Williams–Ford +2.77 24 Larry Perkins Boro–Ford +3.00 25 Brett Lunger Surtees–Ford +3.44 26 Loris Kessel Brabham–Ford +3.53 27 Emilio Zapico Williams–Ford +3.70 28 Emilio de Villota Brabham–Ford +4.37 29 Harald Ertl Hesketh–Ford +4.40 30 Ingo Hoffmann Fittipaldi–Ford +34.60 Source:Formula One 1976 Spanish Grand Prix Classification | Motorsport Stats *Drivers with a red background failed to qualify
Race Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 11 James Hunt McLaren-Ford 75 1:42:20.43 1 9 2 1 Niki Lauda Ferrari 75 + 30.97 2 6 3 6 Gunnar Nilsson Lotus-Ford 75 + 48.02 7 4 4 7 Carlos Reutemann Brabham-Alfa Romeo 74 + 1 lap 12 3 5 22 Chris Amon Ensign-Ford 74 + 1 lap 10 2 6 8 Carlos Pace Brabham-Alfa Romeo 74 + 1 lap 11 1 7 20 Jacky Ickx Wolf-Williams-Ford 74 + 1 lap 21 8 16 Tom Pryce Shadow-Ford 74 + 1 lap 22 9 19 Alan Jones Surtees-Ford 74 + 1 lap 20 10 21 Michel Leclère Wolf-Williams-Ford 73 + 2 laps 23 11 2 Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 72 + 3 laps 5 12 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra 72 + 3 laps 8 13 37 Larry Perkins Boro-Ford 72 + 3 laps 24 12 Jochen Mass McLaren-Ford 65 Engine 4 17 Jean-Pierre Jarier Shadow-Ford 61 Electrical 15 3 Jody Scheckter Tyrrell-Ford 53 Engine 14 28 John Watson Penske-Ford 51 Engine 13 35 Arturo Merzario March-Ford 36 Gearbox 18 5 Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford 34 Gearbox 9 4 Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford 25 Accident 3 9 Vittorio Brambilla March-Ford 21 Suspension 6 34 Hans Joachim Stuck March-Ford 16 Gearbox 17 10 Ronnie Peterson March-Ford 11 Transmission 16 30 Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford 3 Transmission 19 18 Brett Lunger Surtees-Ford 32 Loris Kessel Brabham-Ford 25 Emilio Zapico Williams-Ford 33 Emilio de Villota Brabham-Ford 24 Harald Ertl Hesketh-Ford 31 Ingo Hoffmann Fittipaldi-Ford
Notes
This was the Formula One World Championship debut for Swiss driver Loris Kessel and Spanish drivers Emilio Zapico and Emilio de Villota. This was the Formula One World Championship debut for Dutch constructor Boro - the first constructor from the Netherlands to participate in Formula One. This was the 50th Grand Prix start for French engine supplier Matra.
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 Pos Driver Points 1 Niki Lauda 33 2 Patrick Depailler 10 3 Clay Regazzoni 9 4 Jochen Mass 7 5 James Hunt 6Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Ferrari 36 2 Tyrrell-Ford 13 3 McLaren-Ford 9 5 4 Lotus-Ford 4 5 5 Brabham-Alfa Romeo 4Source:
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.
References