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1976 German Grand Prix
Race 10 of 16 in the 1976 Formula One season ← Previous race Next race →
Race details
Date	1 August 1976
Official name	XXXVIII Großer Preis von Deutschland
Location	Nürburgring, Nürburg, West Germany
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	22.835 km (14.19 miles)
Distance	14 laps, 319.690 km (198.65 miles)
Weather	Rain at start, later drying
Pole position
Driver	James Hunt	McLaren-Ford
Time	7:06.5
Fastest lap
Driver	Jody Scheckter	Tyrrell-Ford
Time	7:10.8 on lap 13
Podium
First	James Hunt	McLaren-Ford
Second	Jody Scheckter	Tyrrell-Ford
Third	Jochen Mass	McLaren-Ford
Lap leaders

The 1976 German Grand Prix (formally the XXXVIII Großer Preis von Deutschland) was a Formula One motor race held at the Nürburgring on 1 August 1976. It was the scene of reigning world champion Niki Lauda's near-fatal accident, and the last Formula One race to be held on the Nordschleife section of the track. The 14-lap race was the tenth round of the 1976 Formula One season and was won by James Hunt.

Race report

The old Nürburgring was considered to be the most challenging and demanding purpose-built circuit in the world. Measuring at 14.2 miles, it was by far the longest circuit on the calendar and because it was built in the Eifel mountains it had over 1,000 feet (300 m) of elevation change. Although it had been slightly remodeled in 1971, it still retained much of the character that led three-time world champion Jackie Stewart to nickname it "The Green Hell". The circuit's extraordinary size meant that it needed at least five times the number of marshals and medical support as almost any other Grand Prix to properly maintain it, something the German organizers were unable to provide. Additionally, by its very nature it was impossible to upgrade it to the increased safety standards of the 1970s. It was narrow, had very few run-off areas, and numerous sections were nearly inaccessible to fire marshals. It was also very bumpy—indeed, at a number of points, including the Flugplatz and Pflanzgarten, the cars could actually become airborne. The sheer size of the circuit also meant that weather and track conditions around it could vary wildly with some sections dry and others wet, making a safe choice of tyres difficult or impossible. Two weeks previously, a fatal crash at Flugplatz had occurred during practice for a Formula Super-Vee race which, according to Autosport, was the 131st fatality at the Nürburgring over its 49-year history. It was also unsuitable for television; its sheer size made it all but impossible to adequately cover a race there. For these reasons, it had been decided even before the 1976 race that after nearly half a century, it would be the last German Grand Prix held on the old Nürburgring and the last on the Nordschleife section.

Defending world champion Niki Lauda, who was also the current season's points leader, was not impressed with safety conditions and the organizers' inability to provide enough safety support staff (doctors, helicopters, fire marshals) for the leviathan German circuit, especially since the forecast called for rain. He attempted to arrange a boycott of the race, but the other drivers voted against it by just one vote, and the race went ahead.

The race weekend began with some changes to the drivers' lineup: Jacky Ickx was fired from the Walter Wolf Racing team and was replaced by Arturo Merzario, and a new team was present, Scuderia Rondini, which bought an old Tyrrell 007 for Alessandro Pesenti-Rossi. RAM was going to run Rolf Stommelen in one of its ex-works Brabham BT44s, but in the middle of the practice session the local police impounded the cars (because of a legal action by former driver Loris Kessel) and, as a result, Stommelen transferred to the works Brabham team to drive a spare Alfa-Romeo-powered BT45. Lella Lombardi was also affected by the impound action as part of the RAM squad, but could not find a replacement drive.

In 1975, Lauda had been the first and only driver to break the seven-minute mark. Fans were looking forward to whether he or others could repeat this after the technical rules had been changed, with the disappearance of the high air boxes being the most visible difference (which, theoretically, would make cars lighter).

Due to wet conditions on Saturday, the grid was already determined in Friday qualifying, with 7:06-plus lap times similar to those of 1972. James Hunt took the pole with Niki Lauda second, while Patrick Depailler lined up third in the six-wheeled Tyrrell P34. Hans-Joachim Stuck was fourth in his March ahead of Clay Regazzoni, Jacques Laffite, Carlos Pace, Jody Scheckter, Jochen Mass, and Carlos Reutemann.

Race

The 14-lap race was due to start at 1:30pm. but a 15-minute delay was announced as there were numerous Renault 5 saloons to sweep up after they had had a race. The race was delayed till 2:05pm as the weather turned to wet on the far side of the circuit. Most drivers started the race on wet tyres, except Jochen Mass, who, having much experience at the Nürburgring and expecting a change for better weather, decided to use dry weather tyres. At the start, Regazzoni took the lead while both Hunt and Lauda fell back. Hunt took second, third was a fast-starting Mass, fourth was Laffite who took advantage from the fact that Stuck's car had been pushed off the grid with a clutch problem (although the German started at the back of the field). In the course of the first lap, Regazzoni spun and dropped to fourth. At the end of the lap, the weather changed back to dry and most drivers pitted for dry tyres, leaving Mass with the second place behind Peterson, who decided to go on wet tyres for another lap. At the end of lap two, Mass was in front, with Gunnar Nilsson (who had not stopped) in second place and Hunt third.

Lauda had also changed his tyres after lap one and was trying hard to make up for the lost time. Just after the fast left kink before the Bergwerk right hand curve, his Ferrari 312T2 snapped to the right and spun through the fencing into an earth bank. The car bounced back onto the track, enveloped in flames. Guy Edwards managed to avoid the Ferrari, but Brett Lunger hit it and Harald Ertl then hit Lunger's car. All three drivers stopped and tried to get Lauda out of the flames and they were joined by Merzario, who stopped his Wolf Williams after seeing the wreck. Lauda had suffered serious burns and was rushed by helicopter to the Bundeswehr hospital in Koblenz; from there he was flown to the Trauma Clinic in Ludwigshafen, home to Germany's most advanced burn ward at the time, where he fought for his life for the next few days.

Most cars had assembled at the crash site, being unable to pass by on the narrow track. The race had been stopped after the accident, and the race was restarted at 3:10pm, the restart only saw 20 of the 24 starters remaining, although Chris Amon decided not to start the race again. The rain had gone and Hunt passed Regazzoni, Scheckter, Depailler, and Pace to take the lead for good. At the Flugplatz, Peterson lost control of his March and crashed heavily, while Regazzoni had another spin and Depailler went off, avoiding the Ferrari. Pace overtook Scheckter and ended the first lap in second place. On the second lap, Scheckter passed Pace and the Brazilian fell behind Regazzoni on the third lap, during which sixth-placed Vittorio Brambilla crashed at Adenau Bridge because of a brake failure on his March. Mass took advantage of it and overtook Gunnar Nilsson on the fifth lap and Pace on lap 10. On the 12th lap, Regazzoni spun again and Mass moved to third with Pace fourth, Nilsson fifth, and Stommelen sixth.

Lauda's accident proved why the old Nürburgring had become too dangerous and too difficult to manage satisfactorily for Formula One. The organizers just did not have the resources to manage such a long circuit, even though the "ONS-Staffel" was equipped with a Porsche 911 rescue car. The biggest concern the drivers had, was that the one helicopter at the circuit was parked in the pits, which was on one extreme end of the circuit, and it took 5 to 6 minutes for it to get to Lauda's accident site, as opposed to regulations established some years later where there must be a helicopter and efficient services within a minute of any on-track incident. Had it not been for the efforts of his fellow drivers, Lauda would have likely died before rescue crews arrived. After the new Nürburgring was rebuilt with the Nordschleife being bypassed, Formula One would return to the new 2.8 miles (4.5 km) circuit for multiple European Grands Prix beginning in 1984, the German Grand Prix from 1985 and in 2020, the inaugural Eifel Grand Prix.

Chris Amon decided to end his career immediately after Lauda's accident, but returned for the 1976 Canadian Grand Prix, driving a Williams-Ford for Walter Wolf Racing.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Time	Gap
1	11	James Hunt	McLaren-Ford	7:06.5	—
2	1	Niki Lauda	Ferrari	7:07.4	+0.9
3	4	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	7:08.8	+2.3
4	34	Hans Joachim Stuck	March-Ford	7:09.1	+2.6
5	2	Clay Regazzoni	Ferrari	7:09.3	+2.8
6	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	7:11.3	+4.8
7	8	Carlos Pace	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	7:12.0	+5.5
8	3	Jody Scheckter	Tyrrell-Ford	7:12.2	+5.7
9	12	Jochen Mass	McLaren-Ford	7:13.0	+6.7
10	7	Carlos Reutemann	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	7:14.9	+8.4
11	10	Ronnie Peterson	March-Ford	7:14.9	+8.4
12	5	Mario Andretti	Lotus-Ford	7:14.9	+9.6
13	9	Vittorio Brambilla	March-Ford	7:17.7	+11.2
14	19	Alan Jones	Surtees-Ford	7:17.7	+13.4
15	36	Rolf Stommelen	Brabham-Ford	7:21.6	+15.1
	77		Brabham-Alfa Romeo
16	6	Gunnar Nilsson	Lotus-Ford	7:23.0	+16.5
17	22	Chris Amon	Ensign-Ford	7:23.1	+16.6
18	16	Tom Pryce	Shadow-Ford	7:23.3	+16.8
19	28	John Watson	Penske-Ford	7:23.5	+17.0
20	30	Emerson Fittipaldi	Fittipaldi-Ford	7:28.0	+21.5
21	20	Arturo Merzario	Wolf-Williams-Ford	7:28.8	+22.3
22	24	Harald Ertl	Hesketh-Ford	7:30.0	+23.5
23	17	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Shadow-Ford	7:30.9	+24.4
24	18	Brett Lunger	Surtees-Ford	7:32.7	+26.2
25	25	Guy Edwards	Hesketh-Ford	7:38.6	+32.1
26	40	Alessandro Pesenti-Rossi	Tyrrell-Ford	7:38.6	+42.0
DNQ	37	Lella Lombardi	Brabham-Ford	7:51.1	+44.6
DNQ	38	Henri Pescarolo	Surtees-Ford	8:04.2	+57.7

• Stommelen used a #36 Brabham BT44B in both practice sessions on Friday, but his car was seized by police. He then used a #77 Brabham BT45 in the last practice session on Saturday and the race.

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	11	James Hunt	McLaren-Ford	14	1:41:42.7	1	9
2	3	Jody Scheckter	Tyrrell-Ford	14	+ 27.7	8	6
3	12	Jochen Mass	McLaren-Ford	14	+ 52.4	9	4
4	8	Carlos Pace	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	14	+ 54.2	7	3
5	6	Gunnar Nilsson	Lotus-Ford	14	+ 1:57.3	16	2
6	77	Rolf Stommelen	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	14	+ 2:30.3	15	1
7	28	John Watson	Penske-Ford	14	+ 2:33.9	19
8	16	Tom Pryce	Shadow-Ford	14	+ 2:48.2	18
9	2	Clay Regazzoni	Ferrari	14	+ 3:46.0	5
10	19	Alan Jones	Surtees-Ford	14	+ 3:47.3	14
11	17	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Shadow-Ford	14	+ 4:51.7	23
12	5	Mario Andretti	Lotus-Ford	14	+ 4:58.1	12
13	30	Emerson Fittipaldi	Fittipaldi-Ford	14	+ 5:25.2	20
14	40	Alessandro Pesenti-Rossi	Tyrrell-Ford	13	+ 1 lap	26
15	25	Guy Edwards	Hesketh-Ford	13	+ 1 lap	25
Ret	20	Arturo Merzario	Wolf-Williams-Ford	3	Brakes	21
Ret	9	Vittorio Brambilla	March-Ford	1	Accident	13
Ret	4	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	0	Accident	3
Ret	7	Carlos Reutemann	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	0	Fuel System	10
Ret	10	Ronnie Peterson	March-Ford	0	Accident	11
Ret	34	Hans Joachim Stuck	March-Ford	0	Clutch	4
Ret	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	0	Gearbox	6
Ret	22	Chris Amon	Ensign-Ford	(1)	Withdrew after first race	17
Ret	1	Niki Lauda	Ferrari	(1)	Accident in first race	2
Ret	18	Brett Lunger	Surtees-Ford	(1)	Accident in first race	24
Ret	24	Harald Ertl	Hesketh-Ford	(1)	Accident in first race	22
DNS	36	Rolf Stommelen	Brabham-Ford		Car seized by Police
DNQ	37	Lella Lombardi	Brabham-Ford		Car seized by Police
DNQ	38	Henri Pescarolo	Surtees-Ford
Source:

Notes

• This was the Formula One World Championship debut for Italian driver Alessandro Pesenti-Rossi.
• This was the 10th Grand Prix start for Ligier.

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Niki Lauda 58 2 James Hunt 44 3 Jody Scheckter 34 4 Patrick Depailler 26 5 Clay Regazzoni 16 Source:

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Ferrari 61 2 McLaren-Ford 49 (50) 3 Tyrrell-Ford 47 4 Ligier-Matra 10 5 Penske-Ford 9 Source:

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. Only the best seven results from the first eight races and the best seven results from the last eight races counted towards the Championship. Numbers without parentheses are Championship points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored. Points do not reflect final results of 1976 British Grand Prix as it was under appeal.

References

1. "1976 German GP". www.chicanef1.com. Retrieved 2020-08-02.
2. Lang, Mike (1983). Grand Prix! Vol 3. Haynes Publishing Group. p. 135. ISBN 0-85429-380-9.
3. Lang (1983), p. 138.
4. "1976 German Grand Prix Entry list".
5. "Ernst Raetz". Motorsport Memorial. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
6. Effenberger, Günther; Handke, Peter (1978). Niki Lauda, ein Leben für die Formel 1 [Niki Lauda, a life for Formula 1] (in German). Munich: Heyne. ISBN 978-3-453-00826-7.
7. "1976 German Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 10 December 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
8. ^ "Germany 1976 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 18 March 2019.

v t e Niki Lauda
Family	Ernst (great-grandfather) Hans (paternal grandfather) Birgit (wife) Mathias (son) Lukas (son)
Formula One teams	March BRM Ferrari Brabham McLaren
Team consultancy	Ferrari Jaguar Mercedes
In popular culture	Cars Rush
Related	Superfund Lauda Air Flight 004 Niki LaudaMotion James Hunt (Hunt-Lauda rivalry) 1975 F1 season 1976 F1 season German Grand Prix 1977 F1 season 1984 F1 season
Category

• 1976 Formula One races
• German Grand Prix
• 1976 in West German motorsport
• Sport in Rhineland-Palatinate