The 1976 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Zolder, near Heusden-Zolder in Belgium on 16 May 1976. The race was the fifth round of the 1976 Formula One season. It was the 34th Belgian Grand Prix and the third to be held at Circuit Zolder. Zolder was a replacement venue as Nivelles-Baulers near Brussels was due to host the race in rotation with Zolder but the track surface at Nivelles had deteriorated and Zolder would host the race until the return of Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in 1983. The race was held over 70 laps of the 4.3-kilometre circuit for a total race distance of 298 kilometres.
The race was won by Ferrari driver, Niki Lauda driving a Ferrari 312T2, who increased his lead in the World Drivers' Championship to 29 points by doing so. His Swiss teammate, Clay Regazzoni, finished the race in second position, 3.4 seconds behind Lauda. Third was taken by French driver Jacques Laffite driving a Ligier JS5. It was Lauda's fourth win of the year in what was a dominant display by the reigning champion. Laffite's third place was his second podium after finishing second in the 1975 German Grand Prix the previous year and the first such finish for the new Équipe Ligier team.
Qualifying
Qualifying classification Pos.DriverConstructorTimeNo1Niki LaudaFerrari1:26.5512Clay RegazzoniFerrari1:26.6023James HuntMcLaren-Ford1:26.7434Patrick DepaillerTyrrell-Ford1:26.9145Vittorio BrambillaMarch-Ford1:26.9356Jacques LaffiteLigier-Matra1:27.1467Jody ScheckterTyrrell-Ford1:27.1978Chris AmonEnsign-Ford1:27.5489Carlos PaceBrabham-Alfa Romeo1:27.66910Ronnie PetersonMarch-Ford1:27.721011Mario AndrettiLotus-Ford1:27.751112Carlos ReutemannBrabham-Alfa Romeo1:28.301213Tom PryceShadow-Ford1:28.371314Jean-Pierre JarierShadow-Ford1:28.381415Hans-Joachim StuckMarch-Ford1:28.411516Alan JonesSurtees-Ford1:28.441617John WatsonPenske-Ford1:28.441718Jochen MassMcLaren-Ford1:28.501819Patrick NèveBrabham-Ford1:28.801920Larry PerkinsBoro-Ford1:28.812021Arturo MerzarioMarch-Ford1:28.842122Gunnar NilssonLotus-Ford1:28.992223Loris KesselBrabham-Ford1:29.092324Harald ErtlHesketh-Ford1:29.402425Michel LeclèreWolf-Williams-Ford1:29.462526Brett LungerSurtees-Ford1:29.762627Emerson FittipaldiCopersucar-Ford1:29.81—28Jacky IckxWolf-Williams-Ford1:30.61—29Guy EdwardsHesketh-Ford1:30.77— *Drivers with a red background failed to qualify
Race
Race summary Ferrari had locked out the front row in qualifying, with Lauda on pole from Regazzoni. Lauda motored away as the start, with Hunt up to second but Regazzoni soon took the place back. The Ferraris raced away, and Hunt dropped to sixth position, behind Jacques Laffite's Ligier and the two six-wheeled Tyrrell P34s, before eventually retiring with a transmission failure. Patrick Depailler also retired when his engine blew up. Lauda won, and Regazzoni completed a dominant Ferrari 1–2. Laffite inherited third with the retirements of James Hunt (McLaren M23) and Depailler. Jody Scheckter finished fourth in his Tyrrell. A lap behind, future world champion Alan Jones took his second points finish in his Surtees TS19 with Jochen Mass collecting the final point in the second McLaren after Chris Amon's Ensign N176 shed a wheel and rolled.
Classification Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 1 Niki Lauda Ferrari 70 1:42:53.23 1 9 2 2 Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 70 + 3.46 2 6 3 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra 70 + 35.38 6 4 4 3 Jody Scheckter Tyrrell-Ford 70 + 1:31.00 7 3 5 19 Alan Jones Surtees-Ford 69 + 1 Lap 16 2 6 12 Jochen Mass McLaren-Ford 69 + 1 Lap 18 1 7 28 John Watson Penske-Ford 69 + 1 Lap 17 8 37 Larry Perkins Boro-Ford 69 + 1 Lap 20 9 17 Jean-Pierre Jarier Shadow-Ford 69 + 1 Lap 14 10 16 Tom Pryce Shadow-Ford 68 + 2 Laps 13 11 21 Michel Leclère Wolf-Williams-Ford 68 + 2 Laps 25 12 32 Loris Kessel Brabham-Ford 63 + 7 Laps 23 18 Brett Lunger Surtees-Ford 62 Electrical 26 8 Carlos Pace Brabham-Alfa Romeo 58 Electrical 9 22 Chris Amon Ensign-Ford 51 Accident 8 11 James Hunt McLaren-Ford 35 Gearbox 3 34 Hans Joachim Stuck March-Ford 33 Suspension 15 24 Harald Ertl Hesketh-Ford 31 Engine 24 4 Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford 29 Engine 4 5 Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford 28 Halfshaft 11 33 Patrick Nève Brabham-Ford 26 Halfshaft 19 35 Arturo Merzario March-Ford 21 Engine 21 7 Carlos Reutemann Brabham-Alfa Romeo 17 Engine 12 10 Ronnie Peterson March-Ford 16 Accident 10 6 Gunnar Nilsson Lotus-Ford 7 Accident 22 9 Vittorio Brambilla March-Ford 6 Halfshaft 5 30 Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford 20 Jacky Ickx Wolf-Williams-Ford 25 Guy Edwards Hesketh-Ford
Notes
This was the 10th fastest lap set by an Austrian driver. This was the 1st podium finish for French constructor Ligier. For the first time since the 1971 Dutch Grand Prix, a Ford-powered car did not end on the podium. This ended a record streak of 67 consecutive podium finishes for the engine supplier.
Championship standings after the race Points are accurate at the conclusion of the race and do not include amended results of the 1976 Spanish Grand Prix as it was under appeal.
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Niki Lauda 42 1 2 Clay Regazzoni 15 1 3 Patrick Depailler 10 4 Jochen Mass 8 1 5 Jody Scheckter 8Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Ferrari 45 2 Tyrrell-Ford 16 3 McLaren-Ford 10 3 4 Ligier-Matra 7 1 5 Lotus-Ford 6Source:
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References