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Spanish GP 1976

Spanish GP, 1976

There were a package of new regulations which outlawed the in-vogue high airboxes and reduced the size of the rear wings. Ferrari arrived with the new 312T2 which featured air ducts around the side of the cockpit. Ensign also had a new car. The major talking point, however, was the six-wheeled Tyrrell P34 one of which had been entered for Patrick Depailler. Team Lotus had dropped Bob Evans and Mario Andretti appeared alongside Gunnar Nilsson following Parnelli's decision to withdraw from F1. The field was boosted by the appearance of the RAM Brabham team with drivers Loris Kessel and Emilio de Villota and a third Williams which was entered for local hero Emilio Zapico. There was also a car called the Boro, which was little more than an old Ensign with another name. It was driven by Australian Larry Perkins. With only 24 starters there would be six non-qualifiers, including both RAM Brabhams, Brett Lunger's Surtees, Zapico, Harald Ertl's Hesketh and Ingo Hoffmann in the second Fittipaldi.

Qualifying resulted in James Hunt (McLaren) just beating Niki Lauda (Ferrari). Then came Depailler's Tyrrell, Jochen Mass's McLaren and Clay Regazzoni in the second Ferrari which shared the third row with Vittorio Brambilla's March. The fourth row featured Nilsson and Jacques Laffite (Ligier) with the top 10 completed by Andretti and Chris Amon, going well in the Ensign.

Lauda once again beat Hunt to the first corner with the fast-starting Brambilla third ahead of Depailler and Mass. The Beta March driver could not hold on to the position and drifted behind both Depailler and Mass in the early laps and on the 12th lap also fell behind Laffite. Both men would disappear soon afterwards leaving Nilsson to move to fifth. This became fourth on the 26th lap when Depailler spun out with brake problems.

At the front Hunt closed in on Lauda and on lap 32 the Englishman took the lead. Two laps later Mass was also ahead of the Ferrari and McLaren looked to be on course for a 1-2 result until lap 66 when Mass retired with an engine failure. This promoted Nilsson to third with Carlos Reutemann fourth in his Brabham-Alfa, Chris Amon fifth in the Ensign and Carlos Pace sixth in the second Brabham-Alfa.

After the race there was controversy when Hunt's McLaren was found to be too wide. The McLaren team argued that this had been caused by the expansion of the tires during the race and appealed. It was not until July that Hunt was reinstated, although the team was fined $3000 by the FIA.

POS	NO	DRIVER	ENTRANT	LAPS	TIME/RETIREMENT	QUAL POS
1	11	James Hunt	McLaren-Cosworth M23	75	1h42m20.430s	1
2	1	Niki Lauda	Ferrari 312T2	75	1h42m51.400s	2
3	6	Gunnar Nilsson	Lotus-Cosworth 77	75	1h43m08.450s	7
4	7	Carlos Reutemann	Brabham-Alfa Romeo BT45	74		12
5	22	Chris Amon	Ensign-Cosworth N176	74		10
6	8	Carlos Pace	Brabham-Alfa Romeo BT45	74		11
7	20	Jacky Ickx	Wolf Williams-Cosworth FW05	74		21
8	16	Tom Pryce	Shadow-Cosworth DN5B	74		22
9	19	Alan Jones	Surtees-Cosworth TS19	74		20
10	21	Michel Leclere	Wolf Williams-Cosworth FW05	73		23
11	2	Clay Regazzoni	Ferrari 312T2	72		5
12	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra JS5	72		8
13	37	Larry Perkins	Boro-Cosworth N175	72		24
r	12	Jochen Mass	McLaren-Cosworth M23	65	Engine	4
r	17	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Shadow-Cosworth DN5B	61	Electrics	15
r	3	Jody Scheckter	Tyrrell-Cosworth 007	53	Oil Pump	14
r	28	John Watson	Penske-Cosworth PC3	51	Engine	13
r	35	Arturo Merzario	March-Cosworth 761	36	Gear Linkage	18
r	5	Mario Andretti	Lotus-Cosworth 77	34	Gearbox	9
r	4	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Cosworth P34	25	Brakes/ Accident	3
r	9	Vittorio Brambilla	March-Cosworth 761	21	Accident	6
r	34	Hans-Joachim Stuck	March-Cosworth 761	16	Gearbox	17
r	10	Ronnie Peterson	March-Cosworth 761	11	Transmission	16
r	30	Emerson Fittipaldi	Copersucar-Cosworth FD04	3	Gear Linkage	19
nq	18	Brett Lunger	Surtees-Cosworth TS19			25
nq	32	Loris Kessel	Brabham-Cosworth BT44B			26
nq	25	Emilio Zapico	Williams-Cosworth FW04			27
nq	33	Emilio de Villota	Brabham-Cosworth BT44B			28
nq	24	Harald Ertl	Hesketh-Cosworth 308D			29
nq	31	Ingo Hoffman	Copersucar-Cosworth FD04			30