The 1976 Canadian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Mosport Park on 3 October 1976.
At this weekend, British championship contender James Hunt found out that he lost 9 points from his victory at the British Grand Prix that year, and Austrian championship leader Niki Lauda gained another 3 points (he finished 2nd at that race). Hunt won the Mosport event, but it made no difference to his championship points standings before the race.
Qualifying James Hunt managed to take pole position from the March cars of Ronnie Peterson and Vittorio Brambilla, whilst the rest of the top 10 qualifiers were Patrick Depailler, Mario Andretti, Niki Lauda, Jody Scheckter, Hans Joachim Stuck, Jacques Laffite and Carlos Pace in the leading Brabham.
Qualifying classification Pos No. Driver Constructor Lap Gap 1 11 James Hunt McLaren-Ford 1:12.389 — 2 10 Ronnie Peterson March-Ford 1:12.783 + 0.394 3 9 Vittorio Brambilla March-Ford 1:12.799 + 0.410 4 4 Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford 1:12.837 + 0.448 5 5 Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford 1:13.028 + 0.639 6 1 Niki Lauda Ferrari 1:13.060 + 0.671 7 3 Jody Scheckter Tyrrell-Ford 1:13.191 + 0.802 8 34 Hans Joachim Stuck March-Ford 1:13.322 + 0.933 9 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra 1:13.425 + 1.036 10 8 Carlos Pace Brabham-Alfa Romeo 1:13.438 + 1.049 11 12 Jochen Mass McLaren-Ford 1:13.439 + 1.050 12 2 Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 1:13.500 + 1.111 13 16 Tom Pryce Shadow-Ford 1:13.665 + 1.276 14 28 John Watson Penske-Ford 1:13.973 + 1.584 15 6 Gunnar Nilsson Lotus-Ford 1:14.397 + 2.008 16 22 Jacky Ickx Ensign-Ford 1:14.461 + 2.072 17 30 Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford 1:14.471 + 2.082 18 17 Jean-Pierre Jarier Shadow-Ford 1:15.113 + 2.724 19 7 Larry Perkins Brabham-Alfa Romeo 1:15.598 + 3.209 20 19 Alan Jones Surtees-Ford 1:15.652 + 3.263 21 38 Henri Pescarolo Surtees-Ford 1:15.846 + 3.457 22 18 Brett Lunger Surtees-Ford 1:16.201 + 3.812 23 24 Harald Ertl Hesketh-Ford 1:16.534 + 4.145 24 25 Guy Edwards Hesketh-Ford 1:17.217 + 4.828 25 20 Arturo Merzario Wolf-Williams-Ford 1:17.288 + 4.899 26 21 Chris Amon Wolf-Williams-Ford 1:18.202 + 5.813 27 39 Otto Stuppacher Tyrrell-Ford 1:25.024 + 12.695
Race James Hunt started from pole position but as ever, he didn't get away well off the start and allowed Peterson and in the March to take first ahead of Hunt and teammate Brambilla for the early stages. That was until Hunt retook the lead on lap 10, whilst Peterson and Brambilla fell out of the points later on. As Depailler took second for Tyrrell and Andretti was third in the leading Lotus. The order of the top 3 didn't change whilst Hunt's rival Lauda who was running 5th for most of the race had also dropped out of the points with the Marches due to handling problems, he would eventually finished 8th as a result. James Hunt had won the race ahead of Patrick Depailler, Mario Andretti, Jody Scheckter, Jochen Mass and Clay Regazzoni. Which closed the gap from 17 back to 8 points in the championship, but Hunt was still slightly furious over his disqualification from the British Grand Prix after the race.
Classification Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 11 James Hunt McLaren-Ford 80 1:40:09.626 1 9 2 4 Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford 80 + 6.331 4 6 3 5 Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford 80 + 10.366 5 4 4 3 Jody Scheckter Tyrrell-Ford 80 + 19.745 7 3 5 12 Jochen Mass McLaren-Ford 80 + 41.811 11 2 6 2 Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 80 + 46.256 12 1 7 8 Carlos Pace Brabham-Alfa Romeo 80 + 46.472 10 8 1 Niki Lauda Ferrari 80 + 1:12.957 6 9 10 Ronnie Peterson March-Ford 79 + 1 lap 2 10 28 John Watson Penske-Ford 79 + 1 lap 14 11 16 Tom Pryce Shadow-Ford 79 + 1 lap 13 12 6 Gunnar Nilsson Lotus-Ford 79 + 1 lap PL 13 22 Jacky Ickx Ensign-Ford 79 + 1 lap 16 14 9 Vittorio Brambilla March-Ford 79 + 1 lap 3 15 18 Brett Lunger Surtees-Ford 78 + 2 laps 22 16 19 Alan Jones Surtees-Ford 78 + 2 laps 20 17 7 Larry Perkins Brabham-Alfa Romeo 78 + 2 laps 19 18 17 Jean-Pierre Jarier Shadow-Ford 77 + 3 laps 18 19 38 Henri Pescarolo Surtees-Ford 77 + 3 laps 21 20 25 Guy Edwards Hesketh-Ford 75 + 5 laps 23 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra 43 Oil pressure 9 30 Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford 41 Exhaust 17 34 Hans Joachim Stuck March-Ford 36 Handling 8 20 Arturo Merzario Wolf-Williams-Ford 11 Accident 24 24 Harald Ertl Hesketh-Ford Practice accident 21 Chris Amon Wolf-Williams-Ford Practice accident 39 Otto Stuppacher Tyrrell-Ford
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Niki Lauda* 64 2 James Hunt* 56 3 Jody Scheckter 43 1 4 Patrick Depailler 33 1 5 Clay Regazzoni 29Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Ferrari* 77 2 McLaren-Ford* 61 (62) 3 Tyrrell-Ford 59 4 Ligier-Matra 20 2 5 Lotus-Ford 20Source:
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. Only the best 7 results from the first 8 races and the best 7 results from the last 8 races counted towards the Championship. Numbers without parentheses are Championship points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored. Competitors in bold and marked with an asterisk still had a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion.
References