1976 German Grand Prix
The Grand Prix of Germany 1976 was held on 1 August at the Nurburgring and was the tenth race of the Formula 1 season 1976.
- 3.1 Start -up
- 3.2 race
- 4.1 Drivers' Championship
- 4.2 Constructors' Championship
Reports
Background
Two weeks after the controversial Grand Prix of Great Britain, the Germany GP 1976 found despite ever increasing reservations expressed by the driver with the one last place on this traditional route in terms of safety equipment and track length as out of date classified Nürburgring - Nordschleife.
Upon termination of Jacky Ickx Arturo Merzario took his place at a Walter Wolf Racing. Then March Engineering came with only three works cars. The Italian private team Gulf Rondini toyed with a Tyrrell 007 and the Formula 1 newcomer Alessandro Pesenti - Rossi for the first time in the message list of a Grand Prix.
Rolf Stommelen reported by Brabham Racing customer team RAM as a guest starter for his home Grand Prix. He then qualified with one of the two used by the Brabham team BT44B for 15th place. Due to a court action, the Loris Kessel had filed over unpaid salary payments for his four completed already for the team missions, one of the vehicles was seized during the training of the police. Brabham team boss Bernie Ecclestone put Stommelen then short the replacement car of the factory teams.
Training
James Hunt achieved the best workout time and was there about a second faster than the runner-up Niki Lauda. The fastest lap of the previous year was missed by around eight seconds. The second row were Patrick Depailler in Tyrrell P34 and Hans- Joachim Stuck, the front of a home crowd was a good exercise performance in March 761, by letting the stronger assessed Clay Regazzoni, Jacques Laffite, Carlos Pace and Jody Scheckter behind.
Race
Until just before the start of the race it had rained. Thereupon all the drivers except Jochen Mass opted for the use of rain tires.
Regazzoni went from position five of the lead from Hunt and the well started mass. Laffite benefited in fourth place by the fact that Stuck's vehicle had been taken out of the starting lineup because of a clutch damage. Stuck rejoined the race but with a short delay, by letting himself be pushing at the end of the field of mechanics.
During the first round, Regazzoni turned their achievement on the fourth. After a few kilometers, found nearly all pilots that due to a drying track conditions no more rain tires were needed. Around half of the field then headed at the end of the first round to the pits to have to change tires. As a result, there was Mass, who had this rapidly improving track conditions already guessed the only one, in second place behind Ronnie Peterson, who lay back for another round on rain tires. After this also stopped at the end of the second revolution, took over the lead from Mass Gunnar Nilsson, which was equipped as one of the few at that time still with rain tires, and James Hunt.
Lauda, who had lost several places after a poor start and a comparatively slow pit stop, lost in the second round in the area of the section of " mine" possibly due to suspension damage control of his Ferrari. The car broke through several fencing, was thrown against a wall of earth and then slid several feet uncontrollably across the track while lit the light emerging from the nearly full tank of petrol. Guy Edwards that immediately followed, could barely dodge. The following pilot Brett Lunger and Harald Ertl, however, rammed the wreck. The route was blocked by it. Edwards, Lunger and Ertl and hurrying them to help Arturo Merzario saved Lauda, who had lost by the force of the impact his helmet, from the burning car. The following race car arrived in time, despite the complexity of the situation without collisions in front of the accident scene to a halt. The race was thus canceled. The other drivers who had lain at the time of the accident before Lauda, this information received by the red flag of the race organizers.
A little later met a security vehicle in the ONS as well as an ambulance at the scene of a. On the initiative of Hans -Joachim Stuck took the ambulance the injured Lauda, who was intermittently conscious, against the usual direction of travel by the second, less well-known exit the race track in a direct way to the hospital to Adenau. From there, the Austrian was initially eventually flown to the German Armed Forces Central Hospital Koblenz and in a specialized burns hospital in Ludwigshafen.
To restart the race occurred on only 20 vehicles. Chris Amon had spontaneously decided in light of the events for a withdrawal from Formula 1. For now completely dry conditions, Hunt went to Regazzoni, Scheckter, Depailler and Pace in the lead. In the area of the section "aerodrome " Peterson was killed shortly afterwards, but was uninjured. Regazzoni turned again and Depailler came off while trying to evade the Ferrari off the track. Pace finished the first round due to an overtaking maneuver against Scheckter in second place behind Hunt, but fell during the following round again behind the South Africans as well as behind Regazzoni to fourth place back. Meanwhile, Vittorio Brambilla crashed because of a brake defect in the Adenauer bridge without getting hurt.
Mass, which had lain at the time of the racing crash in the lead, overtaking one after the fifth-placed Nilsson and the fourth-placed Pace. As a beneficiary of a renewed Turner of Regazzoni in the twelfth round he finished the race restarted on the third place. Carlos Pace, Gunnar Nilsson and Brabham guest driver Rolf Stommelen completed the points.
From the following year the Grand Prix of Germany was held at the Hockenheimring, the route security guarantee could be much easier due to the compared to the Nordschleife significantly lower length of the route. This decision was, however, already clear before the race in 1976. It was therefore not a decision that was taken only as a result of the accident of Lauda.
Message list
1 Rolf Stommelen was originally reported with the number 36 team in the RAM Racing Brabham BT44B and thus completed the qualification. In the race he drove the Brabham BT45 with start number 77, which was the Brabham works team as a spare car available.
Classifications
Line-up
Race
2 Chris Amon, Niki Lauda, Brett Lunger and Harald Ertl participated only on the first start of the race.
WM stands after the race
The first six of the race were 9, 6, 4, 3, 2 and 1 point (s).