The 1976 United States Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on October 10, 1976, at the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Race Course in Watkins Glen, New York. This event was also referred to as the United States Grand Prix East in order to distinguish it from the United States Grand Prix West held on March 28, 1976, in Long Beach, California.
Summary Austrian Niki Lauda arrived in the United States for the penultimate race of 1976 with an eight-point lead over Britain's James Hunt in the driver's championship. Lauda had led comfortably with five wins in the season's first nine races, before his life-threatening crash at the Nürburgring in August. Hunt then won three of the next five races, including Germany where Lauda was injured. Lauda recovered to race in Italy and Canada (won by Hunt), but his lead over Hunt in the driver's championship had narrowed considerably.
Friday's first qualifying session saw only a handful of drivers venture out onto a wet race track. When Austrian Otto Stuppacher went out first, there were still streams of water running across in places. McLaren manager Teddy Mayer remarked, "The drivers finished in reverse ratio to the proportion of their IQs."
The rain stopped before the afternoon session began, and after 15 minutes on the still wet track, drivers began changing to slicks. Times dropped quickly on the drying track as driver after driver jumped to the top of the charts, only to fall back down again as the others went faster, too.
Hunt and Patrick Depailler, who was driving one of the six-wheeled Tyrrells, were dueling for top spot, with Depailler following Hunt's McLaren on the track, when the air bottle for the McLaren's compressor starter fell off and hit the Tyrrell's two left front wheels and the monocoque. Both wheels were broken, and even after stopping to replace them, Depailler's steering was out of line, and he could manage only seventh quickest. Later, as Hunt stood in the pits next to a four-foot, 150-pound air bottle, Rob Walker asked, "Was that the one you threw at Depailler?" Hunt answered, "No, we are keeping that one for Niki on Sunday!"
Hunt finished Friday on pole, ahead of Jody Scheckter's Tyrrell, the Marches of Ronnie Peterson and Vittorio Brambilla, and Lauda's Ferrari. Saturday's rain was worse than Friday morning's had been, so the times from Friday afternoon made up the grid. Stuppacher was the only one who failed to qualify.
Overnight, snow fell on the circuit, but the sun came out on Sunday as 100,000 fans, the largest paying crowd ever at The Glen, came out to see the championship battle. At the start, Scheckter jumped ahead of Hunt and led into the first turn. They were followed by Brambilla, Peterson, Lauda, Depailler, John Watson's Penske, the Lotus of Mario Andretti and Jacques Laffite's Ligier.
Scheckter and Hunt began to draw away immediately, with the Tyrrell 2.5 seconds ahead after five laps. After being held up by Brambilla for four laps, Lauda moved into third, 5.8 seconds behind Hunt. Meanwhile, a battle was being waged for fourth among Brambilla, Peterson, Laffite, Carlos Pace, Watson, Clay Regazzoni, Andretti and Jochen Mass. Hans-Joachim Stuck, who had qualified sixth but suffered a slipping clutch on the grid, was working his way forward and had now reached the end of this group.
Further down, on lap 15, the Ensign of Jacky Ickx went wide in Turn 6, a left-hander entering the 'Anvil' section of the course (known among spectators as 'The Boot'). The car suddenly snapped right and hit the Armco barrier head on. The nose went under the bottom rail, and the car split in two with the rear section spinning back onto the track in flames. Ickx stepped out of the wreckage of the cockpit and hobbled to the grass, where he collapsed with injuries to both his legs and ankles. Emerson Fittipaldi, who had been following him, said it was one of the worst accidents he had ever seen, and that he could hear the explosion of the car hitting the barrier above his engine and through his helmet and earplugs. Watson slowed briefly for the wreck, and was passed by Regazzoni and Mass before he got back up to full speed, putting him back to ninth place.
At the front, Scheckter's Tyrrell was losing grip as his fuel load lightened, and Hunt was getting quicker in the chasing McLaren. The gap closed to 1.3 seconds on lap 29, then half a second on lap 30. Finally, on lap 37, Hunt moved inside at the end of the back straight and took the lead. He pulled away by over two seconds in the next two laps, but on lap 41, he missed a gear in the chicane while trying to get around some backmarkers, and Scheckter retook the lead. Hunt passed him again at the end of the straight on lap 46 and held on to claim his sixth win of the season. Six laps from the finish, on lap 53, Hunt set the fastest lap of the race.
Lauda, struggling with oversteer on hard tires in the cold, barely beat Hunt's McLaren teammate Mass to the line to keep his third place. After the race, the Austrian removed his helmet to reveal a balaclava soaked in blood. He claimed four Championship points and still led by three points with one race to go. Lauda's third place clinched the Constructor's Championship for Ferrari with one race left.
Qualifying Pos No. Driver Constructor Lap Gap 1 11 James Hunt McLaren-Ford 1:43.622 — 2 3 Jody Scheckter Tyrrell-Ford 1:43.870 + 0.248 3 10 Ronnie Peterson March-Ford 1:43.941 + 0.319 4 9 Vittorio Brambilla March-Ford 1:44.250 + 0.628 5 1 Niki Lauda Ferrari 1:44.257 + 0.635 6 34 Hans-Joachim Stuck March-Ford 1:44.265 + 0.643 7 4 Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford 1:44.516 + 0.894 8 28 John Watson Penske-Ford 1:44.719 + 1.097 9 16 Tom Pryce Shadow-Ford 1:45.102 + 1.480 10 8 Carlos Pace Brabham-Alfa Romeo 1:45.274 + 1.652 11 5 Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford 1:45.311 + 1.689 12 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra 1:45.324 + 1.702 13 7 Larry Perkins Brabham-Alfa Romeo 1:45.363 + 1.741 14 2 Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 1:45.534 + 1.912 15 30 Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford 1:45.646 + 2.024 16 17 Jean-Pierre Jarier Shadow-Ford 1:45.979 + 2.357 17 12 Jochen Mass McLaren-Ford 1:46.067 + 2.445 18 19 Alan Jones Surtees-Ford 1:46.402 + 2.780 19 22 Jacky Ickx Ensign-Ford 1:46.605 + 2.983 20 6 Gunnar Nilsson Lotus-Ford 1:46.776 + 3.154 21 24 Harald Ertl Hesketh-Ford 1:49.418 + 5.796 22 25 Alex Ribeiro Hesketh-Ford 1:49.669 + 6.047 23 21 Warwick Brown Wolf-Williams-Ford 1:51.124 + 7.502 24 18 Brett Lunger Surtees-Ford 1:51.373 + 7.751 25 20 Arturo Merzario Wolf-Williams-Ford 2:00.932 + 17.310 26 38 Henri Pescarolo Surtees-Ford 2:05.211 + 21.589 27 39 Otto Stuppacher Tyrrell-Ford 2:11.070 + 27.448
Race Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 11 James Hunt McLaren-Ford 59 1:42:40.742 1 9 2 3 Jody Scheckter Tyrrell-Ford 59 + 8.030 2 6 3 1 Niki Lauda Ferrari 59 + 1:02.324 5 4 4 12 Jochen Mass McLaren-Ford 59 + 1:02.458 17 3 5 34 Hans-Joachim Stuck March-Ford 59 + 1:07.978 6 2 6 28 John Watson Penske-Ford 59 + 1:08.190 8 1 7 2 Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 58 + 1 Lap 14 8 19 Alan Jones Surtees-Ford 58 + 1 Lap 18 9 30 Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford 57 + 2 Laps 15 10 17 Jean-Pierre Jarier Shadow-Ford 57 + 2 Laps 16 11 18 Brett Lunger Surtees-Ford 57 + 2 Laps 24 12 25 Alex Ribeiro Hesketh-Ford 57 + 2 Laps 22 13 24 Harald Ertl Hesketh-Ford 54 + 5 Laps 21 14 21 Warwick Brown Wolf-Williams-Ford 54 + 5 Laps 23 38 Henri Pescarolo Surtees-Ford 48 + 11 Laps 26 16 Tom Pryce Shadow-Ford 45 Engine 9 9 Vittorio Brambilla March-Ford 34 Tyre 4 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra 34 Tyre 12 8 Carlos Pace Brabham-Alfa Romeo 31 Collision 10 7 Larry Perkins Brabham-Alfa Romeo 30 Suspension 13 5 Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford 23 Suspension 11 22 Jacky Ickx Ensign-Ford 14 Accident 19 6 Gunnar Nilsson Lotus-Ford 13 Engine 20 10 Ronnie Peterson March-Ford 12 Suspension 3 20 Arturo Merzario Wolf-Williams-Ford 9 Accident 25 4 Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford 7 Fuel Pipe 7 39 Otto Stuppacher Tyrrell-Ford -
Notes
This was the Formula One World Championship debut for Australian driver Warwick Brown and Brazilian driver Alex Ribeiro. This was the 1st Grand Slam for McLaren and the 10th for a Ford-powered car.
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Niki Lauda* 68 2 James Hunt* 65 3 Jody Scheckter 49 4 Patrick Depailler 33 5 Clay Regazzoni 29Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Ferrari 81 2 McLaren-Ford 70 (71) 3 Tyrrell-Ford 65 2 4 Penske-Ford 20 1 5 Ligier-Matra 20Source:
Bold text indicates the 1976 World Constructors' Champions. Competitors in bold and marked with an asterisk still had a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion.
References
Further reading Doug Nye (1978). The United States Grand Prix and Grand Prize Races, 1908-1977. B. T. Batsford. Rob Walker (January, 1977). "18th United States Grand Prix: An Evening At The Glen". Road & Track, 81–84.