The 1976 Japanese Grand Prix 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
Entries
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
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. 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.
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 Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford 1:12.77 — 2 11 James Hunt McLaren-Ford 1:12.80 +0.03 3 1 Niki Lauda Ferrari 1:13.08 +0.31 4 28 John Watson Penske-Ford 1:13.29 +0.52 5 3 Jody Scheckter Tyrrell-Ford 1:13.31 +0.54 6 8 Carlos Pace Brabham-Alfa Romeo 1:13.43 +0.66 7 2 Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 1:13.64 +0.87 8 9 Vittorio Brambilla March-Ford 1:13.72 +0.95 9 10 Ronnie Peterson March-Ford 1:13.85 +1.08 10 51 Masahiro Hasemi Kojima-Ford 1:13.88 +1.11 11 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra 1:13.88 +1.11 12 12 Jochen Mass McLaren-Ford 1:14.05 +1.28 13 4 Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford 1:14.15 +1.38 14 16 Tom Pryce Shadow-Ford 1:14.23 +1.46 15 17 Jean-Pierre Jarier Shadow-Ford 1:14.32 +1.55 16 6 Gunnar Nilsson Lotus-Ford 1:14.35 +1.58 17 7 Larry Perkins Brabham-Alfa Romeo 1:14.38 +1.61 18 34 Hans-Joachim Stuck March-Ford 1:14.38 +1.61 19 20 Arturo Merzario Wolf-Williams-Ford 1:14.41 +1.64 20 19 Alan Jones Surtees-Ford 1:14.60 +1.83 21 52 Kazuyoshi Hoshino Tyrrell-Ford 1:14.65 +1.88 22 24 Harald Ertl Hesketh-Ford 1:15.26 +2.49 23 30 Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford 1:15.30 +2.53 24 18 Noritake Takahara Surtees-Ford 1:15.77 +3.00 25 21 Hans Binder Wolf-Williams-Ford 1:17.36 +4.59 26 21 Masami Kuwashima Wolf-Williams-Ford 1:17.90 +5.13 54 Tony Trimmer Maki-Ford 1:30.91 +18.14Source:
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. , this is the longest period between a first and second victory of a driver in the series.
Race classification Pos No Driver Constructor Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 5 Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford 73 1:43:58.86 1 9 2 4 Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford 72 + 1 Lap 13 6 3 11 James Hunt McLaren-Ford 72 + 1 Lap 2 4 4 19 Alan Jones Surtees-Ford 72 + 1 Lap 20 3 5 2 Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 72 + 1 Lap 7 2 6 6 Gunnar Nilsson Lotus-Ford 72 + 1 Lap 16 1 7 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra 72 + 1 Lap 11 8 24 Harald Ertl Hesketh-Ford 72 + 1 Lap 22 9 18 Noritake Takahara Surtees-Ford 70 + 3 Laps 24 10 17 Jean-Pierre Jarier Shadow-Ford 69 + 4 Laps 15 11 51 Masahiro Hasemi Kojima-Ford 66 + 7 Laps 10 3 Jody Scheckter Tyrrell-Ford 58 Overheating 5 21 Hans Binder Wolf-Williams-Ford 49 Wheel 25 16 Tom Pryce Shadow-Ford 46 Energy 14 9 Vittorio Brambilla March-Ford 38 Electrical 8 34 Hans-Joachim Stuck March-Ford 37 Electrical 18 12 Jochen Mass McLaren-Ford 35 Accident 12 28 John Watson Penske-Ford 33 Engine 4 52 Kazuyoshi Hoshino Tyrrell-Ford 27 Tyre 21 20 Arturo Merzario Wolf-Williams-Ford 23 Gearbox 19 30 Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford 9 Withdrew 23 8 Carlos Pace Brabham-Alfa Romeo 7 Withdrew 6 1 Niki Lauda Ferrari 2 Withdrew 3 7 Larry Perkins Brabham-Alfa Romeo 1 Withdrew 17 10 Ronnie Peterson March-Ford 0 Engine 9 21 Masami Kuwashima Wolf-Williams-Ford 54 Tony Trimmer Maki-Ford In 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. It 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. This press release was promptly made known in Japan, and the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF) and Japanese media corrected the record. 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 1 1 James Hunt* 69 1 2 Niki Lauda 68 3 Jody Scheckter 49 4 Patrick Depailler 39 5 Clay Regazzoni 31Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Ferrari* 83 2 McLaren-Ford 74 (75) 3 Tyrrell-Ford 71 2 4 Lotus-Ford 29 1 5 Penske-Ford 20Source:
Competitors in bold and marked with an asterisk are the 1976 World Champions.
References