1976 Canadian Grand Prix

The 1976 Canadian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Mosport Park on 3 October 1976.

1976 Canadian Grand Prix
Race 14 of 16 in the 1976 Formula One season ← Previous race Next race →
Race details
Date	3 October 1976 (1976-10-03)
Official name	XV Labatt's Canadian Grand Prix
Location	Mosport International Raceway, Ontario, Canada
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	3.957 km (2.458 miles)
Distance	80 laps, 316.56 km (196.64 miles)
Weather	Mild with temperatures approaching 22 °C (72 °F); wind speeds up to 8.9 kilometres per hour (5.5 mph)
Pole position
Driver	James Hunt	McLaren-Ford
Time	1:12.389
Fastest lap
Driver	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford
Time	1:13.817 on lap 60
Podium
First	James Hunt	McLaren-Ford
Second	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford
Third	Mario Andretti	Lotus-Ford
Lap leaders

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
Ret	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	43	Oil pressure	9
Ret	30	Emerson Fittipaldi	Fittipaldi-Ford	41	Exhaust	17
Ret	34	Hans Joachim Stuck	March-Ford	36	Handling	8
Ret	20	Arturo Merzario	Wolf-Williams-Ford	11	Accident	24
DNS	24	Harald Ertl	Hesketh-Ford		Practice accident
DNS	21	Chris Amon	Wolf-Williams-Ford		Practice accident
DNQ	39	Otto Stuppacher	Tyrrell-Ford
Source:

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

Pos	Driver	Points
1	Niki Lauda	64
2	James Hunt	56
3	Jody Scheckter	43
4	Patrick Depailler	33
5	Clay Regazzoni	29
Source:

Constructors' Championship standings

Pos	Constructor	Points
1	Ferrari	77
2	McLaren-Ford	61 (62)
3	Tyrrell-Ford	59
4	Ligier-Matra	20
5	Lotus-Ford	20
Source:

• 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.