1976 Japanese Grand Prix

March 2019 June 2026 F1 Japan Japanese 24 October 1976 16 16 Fuji-Historical-1976-1977.svg 1976 United States Grand Prix XI Japanese Grand Prix1976 Japanese GP http://www.chicanef1.com/racetit.pl?year=1976&gp=Japanese%20GP&r=1 2020-08-02 www.chicanef1.com Fuji SpeedwayOyama, Shizuoka, Japan Permanent racing facility 2.709 4.359 73 197.725 318.207 Very wet and misty, eventually drying Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford 1:12.77 USA Jacques Laffiteb 2 Ligier-Matra 1:19.97 France 70 Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford United States Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford France James Hunt McLaren-Ford UK JPN The 1976 Japanese Grand Prixa 1 was a Formula One motor race held at Fuji Speedway on 24 October 1976. It was the 16th and final race of the 1976 Formula One World Championship. The 1976 World Championship was to be decided at the Mount Fuji circuit, with Niki Lauda just three points ahead of James Hunt after a season full of incidents including Lauda's near-fatal crash at the Nürburgring and subsequent missed races. Following Lauda's early retirement in the race, Hunt secured a third-place-finish and therefore enough points to overcome the three-point-deficit before the start of the final round, winning the championship by just one point over Lauda. It was the closest title-winning margin for eight years. Background thumb|Fuji Speedway in 1983 Entries 1976 Formula One season#Teams and drivers The field was almost unchanged from the previous race, but Noritake Takahara rented the second Surtees replacing Brett Lunger and Masami Kuwashima replaced Warwick Brown in the second Wolf-Williams. However, Kuwashima was himself replaced by Hans Binder during the meeting, after his money failed to materialize. Maki resurrected its Formula One car for Tony Trimmer while Heros Racing entered an old Tyrrell for Kazuyoshi Hoshino on Bridgestone tyres, which was the first Formula One start for the Japanese manufacturer. Kojima Engineering entered a locally built chassis for Masahiro Hasemi (on Dunlop tyres). Championship standings before the race List of Formula One points scoring systems Heading into the final race of the season it was Niki Lauda who led the World Drivers' Championship by three points ahead of James Hunt. In the Constructors' Championship it was Ferrari who had an eleven point lead over McLaren.https://www.statsf1.com/en/1976/etats-unis-est/championnat.aspx USA East 1976 – Championship StatsF1.com 2019-05-16 As this was the final race of the season with 9 points available for the win it meant that the Japanese Grand Prix would decide the Drivers' Championship although Ferrari had confirmed their Constructors' title win in the previous round.https://www.statsf1.com/en/1976/japon.aspx Japan 1976 StatsF1.com 2019-05-16 Championship permutations For Lauda to win the Championship he needed: to finish ahead of Hunt to finish 3rd with Hunt 2nd to finish 4th or 5th with Hunt 3rd to finish 6th with Hunt 4th or lower Hunt to finish 5th or lower For Hunt to win the Championship he needed to finish: 1st 2nd with Lauda 4th or lower 3rd with Lauda 6th or lower 4th with Lauda 7th or lower Qualifying Mario Andretti took pole position in the Lotus 77, with Hunt alongside him on the front row and Lauda third. Then came John Watson in the Penske, Jody Scheckter, Carlos Pace, Clay Regazzoni and Vittorio Brambilla. The top 10 was completed by Ronnie Peterson and Hasemi. Trimmer failed to qualify the Maki. Qualifying classification Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap 1 5 USA Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford 1:12.77  — 2 11 UK James Hunt McLaren-Ford 1:12.80 +0.03 3 1 Austria Niki Lauda Ferrari 1:13.08 +0.31 4 28 UK John Watson Penske-Ford 1:13.29 +0.52 5 3 South Africa 1928 Jody Scheckter Tyrrell-Ford 1:13.31 +0.54 6 8 Brazil Carlos Pace Brabham-Alfa Romeo 1:13.43 +0.66 7 2 Switzerland Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 1:13.64 +0.87 8 9 Italy Vittorio Brambilla March-Ford 1:13.72 +0.95 9 10 Sweden Ronnie Peterson March-Ford 1:13.85 +1.08 10 51 Japan Masahiro Hasemi Kojima-Ford 1:13.88 +1.11 11 26 France Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra 1:13.88 +1.11 12 12 Germany Jochen Mass McLaren-Ford 1:14.05 +1.28 13 4 France Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford 1:14.15 +1.38 14 16 UK Tom Pryce Shadow-Ford 1:14.23 +1.46 15 17 France Jean-Pierre Jarier Shadow-Ford 1:14.32 +1.55 16 6 Sweden Gunnar Nilsson Lotus-Ford 1:14.35 +1.58 17 7 Australia Larry Perkins Brabham-Alfa Romeo 1:14.38 +1.61 18 34 Germany Hans-Joachim Stuck March-Ford 1:14.38 +1.61 19 20 Italy Arturo Merzario Wolf-Williams-Ford 1:14.41 +1.64 20 19 Australia Alan Jones Surtees-Ford 1:14.60 +1.83 21 52 Japan Kazuyoshi Hoshino Tyrrell-Ford 1:14.65 +1.88 22 24 Austria Harald Ertl Hesketh-Ford 1:15.26 +2.49 23 30 Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford 1:15.30 +2.53 24 18 Japan Noritake Takahara Surtees-Ford 1:15.77 +3.00 25 21 Austria Hans Binder Wolf-Williams-Ford 1:17.36 +4.59 26 21 Japan Masami Kuwashima Wolf-Williams-Ford 1:17.90 +5.13 DNQ Did not qualify 54 UK Tony Trimmer Maki-Ford 1:30.91 +18.14Source:http://www.statsf1.com/en/1976/japon/qualification.aspx Japan 1976 – Qualifications StatsF1.com 19 December 2018 Race On race day the weather was very wet with fog and running water at several places on the track. There were intense debates as to whether the race should be started; in the end the organisers decided to go ahead and a majority of drivers did not disagree. Some drivers, including Lauda, were not happy with the decision. Hunt took the lead from the start with Watson and Andretti behind. On the second lap Watson slid down an escape road and Lauda drove into the pits to withdraw, as he believed the weather conditions made the track too dangerous. He later said "my life is worth more than a title." Larry Perkins made a similar decision after one lap, as did Pace and Emerson Fittipaldi later in the race. Hunt continued to lead, behind him second place passed between Andretti and Brambilla. On lap 22 Brambilla challenged for the lead but spun out of contention before retiring 15 laps later with electrical problems. Jochen Mass moved into second before crashing on the 36th lap just before turn 7, promoting Patrick Depailler into the position with Andretti third. It seemed Hunt was on for an easy win, but as the track began to dry he started to lose positions. He only needed a fourth place finish to win the title, because of Lauda's retirement. On lap 62 Hunt fell behind Depailler and Andretti, but two laps later Depailler's left rear tyre started to deflate and he had to pit. Andretti took the lead, but then Hunt had a similar tyre problem. Hunt pitted, dropped to fifth and set off after Depailler, Alan Jones and Regazzoni. Depailler overtook both drivers on lap 70 and on the next lap Hunt did the same and overtook both of them in order to win the World Drivers' Championship. There was brief confusion as the immediate unofficial finish marked him as fifth place, but with quick deliberation the official finish was third. Ferrari won the Constructors' Championship despite Lauda's retirement. Andretti's victory was his second in Formula One, coming five years, seven months and 18 days after his maiden win at the 1971 South African Grand Prix. 2024, this is the longest period between a first and second victory of a driver in the series.Leslie Jack The 5 Drivers with the Biggest Gap between First and Second F1 Wins https://wtf1.com/post/the-5-drivers-with-the-biggest-gaps-between-first-and-second-f1-wins/ wtf1.com 3 January 2018 18 August 2017 4 January 2018 https://web.archive.org/web/20180104073607/https://wtf1.com/post/the-5-drivers-with-the-biggest-gaps-between-first-and-second-f1-wins/ dead Race classification Pos No Driver Constructor Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 5 USA Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford Goodyear 73 1:43:58.86 1 9 2 4 France Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford Goodyear 72 + 1 Lap 13 6 3 11 UK James Hunt McLaren-Ford Goodyear 72 + 1 Lap 2 4 4 19 Australia Alan Jones Surtees-Ford Goodyear 72 + 1 Lap 20 3 5 2 Switzerland Clay Regazzoni Ferrari Goodyear 72 + 1 Lap 7 2 6 6 Sweden Gunnar Nilsson Lotus-Ford Goodyear 72 + 1 Lap 16 1 7 26 France Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra Goodyear 72 + 1 Lap 11   8 24 Austria Harald Ertl Hesketh-Ford Goodyear 72 + 1 Lap 22   9 18 Japan Noritake Takahara Surtees-Ford Goodyear 70 + 3 Laps 24   10 17 France Jean-Pierre Jarier Shadow-Ford Goodyear 69 + 4 Laps 15   11 51 Japan Masahiro Hasemi Kojima-Ford Dunlop 66 + 7 Laps 10   Ret Retired 3 South Africa 1928 Jody Scheckter Tyrrell-Ford Goodyear 58 Overheating 5   Ret Retired 21 Austria Hans Binder Wolf-Williams-Ford Goodyear 49 Wheel 25   Ret Retired 16 UK Tom Pryce Shadow-Ford Goodyear 46 Energy 14   Ret Retired 9 Italy Vittorio Brambilla March-Ford Goodyear 38 Electrical 8   Ret Retired 34 Germany Hans-Joachim Stuck March-Ford Goodyear 37 Electrical 18   Ret Retired 12 Germany Jochen Mass McLaren-Ford Goodyear 35 Accident 12   Ret Retired 28 UK John Watson Penske-Ford Goodyear 33 Engine 4   Ret Retired 52 Japan Kazuyoshi Hoshino Tyrrell-Ford Bridgestone 27 Tyre 21   Ret Retired 20 Italy Arturo Merzario Wolf-Williams-Ford Goodyear 23 Gearbox 19   Ret Retired 30 Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford Goodyear 9 Withdrew 23   Ret Retired 8 Brazil Carlos Pace Brabham-Alfa Romeo Goodyear 7 Withdrew 6   Ret Retired 1 Austria Niki Lauda Ferrari Goodyear 2 Withdrew 3   Ret Retired 7 Australia Larry Perkins Brabham-Alfa Romeo Goodyear 1 Withdrew 17   Ret Retired 10 Sweden Ronnie Peterson March-Ford Goodyear 0 Engine 9   DNS Did not start 21 Japan Masami Kuwashima Wolf-Williams-Ford Goodyear         DNQ Did not qualify 54 UK Tony Trimmer Maki-Ford Dunlop        Source: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/1976/races/373/japan/race-result.html 1976 Japanese Grand Prix formula1.com 23 December 2015 https://web.archive.org/web/20141210055754/http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1976/457/ 10 December 2014https://gparchive.com/formula-1/1976-japanese-grand-prix/ 1976 Japanese Grand Prix – Race Results & History – GP Archive GPArchive.com 24 October 1976 23 October 2021 aIn Japan, the formal name of this Formula One event was not "Japanese Grand Prix" but was "Formula One World Championship in Japan" (F1世界選手権・イン・ジャパン), because an event of the Japanese Formula 2000 championship had been named "Japanese Grand Prix" in 1976. bIt was initially announced that the fastest lap was set by Masahiro Hasemi on lap 25, but this was a measurement mistake, and, several days later, the circuit issued a press release to correct the fastest lap holder of the race to Jacques Laffite with a time of 1:19.97 on lap 70.i-dea archives '76 F1イン・ジャパン (1976 F1 World Championship in Japan) http://as-web.jp/race100sen/issue_info.php?no=18 Auto Sport Archives 日本の名レース100選 (The 100 Best races in Japan) 001 14 January 2006 San-eishobo Publishing Co., Ltd. ja 978-4-7796-0007-4 77 16 December 2010 https://web.archive.org/web/20101213020236/http://as-web.jp/race100sen/issue_info.php?no=18 13 December 2010 dead dmy-all This press release was promptly made known in Japan, and the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF) and Japanese media corrected the record.http://www.jaf.or.jp/CGI/msports/results/n-race/detail-result.cgi?race_id=2939 Motorsport competition results: 1976 F1 World Championship in Japan 17 December 2010 ja Japan Automobile Federation 25 July 2011 https://web.archive.org/web/20110725094739/http://www.jaf.or.jp/CGI/msports/results/n-race/detail-result.cgi?race_id=2939 deadhttp://www.nikkansports.com/ns/sports/motor/japan_gp/history/japan-1976.html Archive: 1976 F1 World Championship in Japan 25 October 1976 17 December 2010 ja Nikkan Sports News But this correction was not made well known outside Japan, thus, Hasemi is credited with the fastest lap of the race in many record books. Notes This was the Formula One World Championship debut for Austrian driver Hans Binder and Japanese drivers Noritake Takahara, Masami Kuwashima, Masahiro Hasemi, and Kazuyoshi Hoshino. This was the Formula One World Championship debut for Japanese constructor Kojima. This race marked the 1st fastest lap for Ligier. Final Championship standings Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 10px 1 1 UK James Hunt* 69 10px 1 2 AUT Niki Lauda 68 10px 3 South Africa 1928 Jody Scheckter 49 10px 4 FRA Patrick Depailler 39 10px 5 SUI Clay Regazzoni 31Source:https://www.statsf1.com/en/1976/japon/championnat.aspx Japan 1976 – Championship StatsF1.com 18 March 2019 Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 10px 1 ITA Ferrari* 83 10px 2 UK McLaren-Ford 74 (75) 10px 3 UK Tyrrell-Ford 71 10px 2 4 UK Lotus-Ford 29 10px 1 5 USA Penske-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 are the 1976 World Champions. References Japanese Grand Prix 1976 1976 United States Grand Prix 1977 Argentine Grand Prix 1975 Japanese Grand Prix 1977 Japanese Grand Prix Japanese Grand Prix Category:Japanese Grand Prix Grand Prix Category:October 1976 sports events in Asia