1976 Brazilian Grand Prix
Race 1 of 16 in the1976 Formula One season Next race →
Race details
Date	January 25, 1976
Official name	V Grande Prêmio do Brasil[1]
Location	São Paulo,Brazil
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	7.960[2] km (4.946 miles)
Distance	40 laps, 318.400[2] km (197.845 miles)
Weather	Sunny
Pole position
Driver	James Hunt	McLaren-Ford
Time	2:32.50[3]
Fastest lap
Driver	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Shadow-Ford
Time	2:35.07 on lap 31[4]
Podium
First	Niki Lauda	Ferrari
Second	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford
Third	Tom Pryce	Shadow-Ford
Lap leaders

The1976 Brazilian Grand Prix was aFormula Onemotor race held atInterlagos inSão Paulo,Brazil on 25 January 1976. It was the opening round of the1976 Formula One season. The race was the fifthBrazilian Grand Prix and the fourth to be held for the World Drivers' Championship. The race was held over 40 laps of the 7.87-kilometre circuit for a total race distance of 315 kilometres.

The race was won by defending world champion,Niki Lauda, driving aFerrari 312T. The Austrian driver won his eighth Formula One Grand Prix by 28 seconds over French driverPatrick Depailler in aTyrrell 007. Second place was Depailler's best finish in almost two years having finished second previously at the1974 Swedish Grand Prix.Tom Pryce finished third in aShadow DN5B in his second podium in six months. It would prove to be the season highlight for Pryce and forShadow Racing Cars. It was their only podium for the season and Pryce would not stand on the podium again.

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Time	No
1	11	James Hunt	McLaren-Ford	2:32.50	1
2	1	Niki Lauda	Ferrari	2:32.52	2
3	17	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Shadow-Ford	2:32.66	3
4	2	Clay Regazzoni	Ferrari	2:33.17	4
5	30	Emerson Fittipaldi	Fittipaldi-Ford	2:33.33	5
6	12	Jochen Mass	McLaren-Ford	2:33.59	6
7	9	Vittorio Brambilla	March-Ford	2:33.63	7
8	28	John Watson	Penske-Ford	2:33.87	8
9	4	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	2:34.49	9
10	8	Carlos Pace	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	2:34.54	10
11	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	2:34.67	11
12	16	Tom Pryce	Shadow-Ford	2:34.84	12
13	3	Jody Scheckter	Tyrrell-Ford	2:35.02	13
14	34	Hans-Joachim Stuck	March-Ford	2:35.38	14
15	7	Carlos Reutemann	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	2:35.97	15
16	6	Mario Andretti	Lotus-Ford	2:36.01	16
17	21	Renzo Zorzi	Wolf-Williams-Ford	2:37.07	17
18	5	Ronnie Peterson	Lotus-Ford	2:37.19	18
19	20	Jacky Ickx	Wolf-Williams-Ford	2:37.62	19
20	31	Ingo Hoffmann	Fittipaldi-Ford	2:40.25	20
21	14	Ian Ashley	BRM	2:40.94	21
22	10	Lella Lombardi	March-Ford	2:40.95	22

For the opening round of the season, James Hunt took his first Formula 1 pole position with reigning champion Niki Lauda alongside in his Ferrari. Emerson Fittipaldi qualified fifth on his debut for his brother Wilson's Copersucar team.^[1][3] Clay Regazzoni in the second Ferrari took the lead at the start.^[5] Lotus teammates Andretti and Peterson collided on the first lap, both retiring as a result.^[6] Lauda was still in the lead ahead of Hunt and Jarier.^[7] Hunt crashed out due to a sticking throttle, and Jarier did the same a lap later after driving on some oil in the track from Hunt's car.^[6] Fittipaldi's debut race for Copersucar failed to live up to its initial promise, the Brazilian double world champion ending up three laps down after various technical problems. Lauda thus started his title defence with victory, with Patrick Depailler second in the Tyrrell, and Tom Pryce completing the podium in the other Shadow.^[8]

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	1	Niki Lauda	Ferrari	40	1:45:16.78	2	9
2	4	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	40	+ 21.47	9	6
3	16	Tom Pryce	Shadow-Ford	40	+ 23.84	12	4
4	34	Hans-Joachim Stuck	March-Ford	40	+ 1:28.17	14	3
5	3	Jody Scheckter	Tyrrell-Ford	40	+ 1:56.46	13	2
6	12	Jochen Mass	McLaren-Ford	40	+ 1:58.27	6	1
7	2	Clay Regazzoni	Ferrari	40	+ 2:15.24	4
8	20	Jacky Ickx	Wolf-Williams-Ford	39	+ 1 lap	19
9	21	Renzo Zorzi	Wolf-Williams-Ford	39	+ 1 lap	17
10	8	Carlos Pace	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	39	+ 1 Lap	10
11	31	Ingo Hoffmann	Fittipaldi-Ford	39	+ 1 Lap	20
12	7	Carlos Reutemann	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	37	Out of Fuel	15
13	30	Emerson Fittipaldi	Fittipaldi-Ford	37	+ 3 Laps	5
14	10	Lella Lombardi	March-Ford	36	+ 4 Laps	22
Ret	17	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Shadow-Ford	33	Accident	3
Ret	11	James Hunt	McLaren-Ford	32	Throttle/Accident	1
Ret	9	Vittorio Brambilla	March-Ford	15	Oil Leak	7
Ret	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	14	Transmission	11
Ret	5	Ronnie Peterson	Lotus-Ford	10	Accident	18
Ret	6	Mario Andretti	Lotus-Ford	6	Accident	16
Ret	28	John Watson	Penske-Ford	2	Fuel System	8
Ret	14	Ian Ashley	BRM	2	Oil Pump	21
Source:[8]

• This was the Formula One World Championship debut for Brazilian driverIngo Hoffmann (record holder of titles in theStock Car Pro Series inBrazil).
• This was the 5th pole position for British constructorMcLaren.
• This was the Formula One World Championship debut for British-Canadian constructorWolf-Williams and French constructorLigier.
• This race marked the 5th podium finish for British-American constructorShadow.

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Niki Lauda 9 2 Patrick Depailler 6 3 Tom Pryce 4 4 Hans-Joachim Stuck 3 5 Jody Scheckter 2 Source:[9]

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Ferrari 9 2 Tyrrell-Ford 6 3 Shadow-Ford 4 4 March-Ford 3 5 McLaren-Ford 1 Source:[9]

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

• 1976 Formula One races
• Brazilian Grand Prix
• 1976 in Brazilian motorsport
• January 1976 sports events in South America

• Pages using the EasyTimeline extension
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata