1976 Belgian Grand Prix

1976 Belgian Grand Prix
Race details
Race 5 of 16 in the 1976 Formula One season

Date	May 16, 1976
Location	Circuit Zolder, Heusden-Zolder, Belgium
Course length	4.262 km (2.648 mi)
Distance	70 laps, 298.34 km (185.38 mi)
Pole position
Driver	Niki Lauda	Ferrari
Time	1:26.55^[1]
Fastest lap
Driver	Niki Lauda	Ferrari
Time	1:25.98^[2]
Podium
First	Niki Lauda	Ferrari
Second	Clay Regazzoni	Ferrari
Third	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra

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 Equipe Ligier team.

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
Ret	18	Brett Lunger	Surtees-Ford	62	Electrical	26
Ret	8	Carlos Pace	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	58	Electrical	9
Ret	22	Chris Amon	Ensign-Ford	51	Accident	8
Ret	11	James Hunt	McLaren-Ford	35	Gearbox	3
Ret	34	Hans Joachim Stuck	March-Ford	33	Suspension	15
Ret	24	Harald Ertl	Hesketh-Ford	31	Engine	24
Ret	4	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	29	Engine	4
Ret	5	Mario Andretti	Lotus-Ford	28	Halfshaft	11
Ret	33	Patrick Nève	Brabham-Ford	26	Halfshaft	19
Ret	35	Arturo Merzario	March-Ford	21	Engine	21
Ret	7	Carlos Reutemann	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	17	Engine	12
Ret	10	Ronnie Peterson	March-Ford	16	Accident	10
Ret	6	Gunnar Nilsson	Lotus-Ford	7	Accident	22
Ret	9	Vittorio Brambilla	March-Ford	6	Halfshaft	5
DNQ	30	Emerson Fittipaldi	Fittipaldi-Ford
DNQ	20	Jacky Ickx	Wolf-Williams-Ford
DNQ	25	Guy Edwards	Hesketh-Ford
Source:^[3]

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
2	Clay Regazzoni	15
3	Patrick Depailler	10
4	Jochen Mass	8
5	Jody Scheckter	8

Constructors' Championship standings

Pos	Constructor	Points
1	Ferrari	45
2	Tyrrell-Ford	16
3	McLaren-Ford	10
4	Ligier-Matra	7
5	Lotus-Ford	6

Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

↑ Lang, Mike (1983). Grand Prix! Vol 3. Haynes Publishing Group. p. 120. ISBN 0-85429-380-9.
↑ Lang, Mike (1983). Grand Prix! Vol 3. Haynes Publishing Group. p. 122. ISBN 0-85429-380-9.
↑ "1976 Belgian Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 10 December 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.

Previous race: 1976 Spanish Grand Prix	FIA Formula One World Championship 1976 season	Next race: 1976 Monaco Grand Prix
Previous race: 1975 Belgian Grand Prix	Belgian Grand Prix	Next race: 1977 Belgian Grand Prix

« previous Formula One Grands Prix (1970–79) next »
1979	ARG BRA RSA USW ESP BEL MON FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA CAN USA
1978	ARG BRA RSA USW MON BEL ESP SWE FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA USA CAN
1977	ARG BRA RSA USW ESP MON BEL SWE FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA USA CAN JPN
1976	BRA RSA USW ESP BEL MON SWE FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA CAN USA JPN
1975	ARG BRA RSA ESP MON BEL SWE NED FRA GBR GER AUT ITA USA
1974	ARG BRA RSA ESP BEL MON SWE NED FRA GBR GER AUT ITA CAN USA
1973	ARG BRA RSA ESP BEL MON SWE FRA GBR NED GER AUT ITA CAN USA
1972	ARG RSA ESP MON BEL FRA GBR GER AUT ITA CAN USA
1971	RSA ESP MON NED FRA GBR GER AUT ITA CAN USA
1970	RSA ESP MON BEL NED FRA GBR GER AUT ITA CAN USA MEX

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