Monaco GP 1976

Monaco GP, 1976

The entry was slightly smaller than in previous races as RAM decided not to enter as only 20 cars would be allowed to start and the Automobile Club of Monaco had limited the entry to 25. Mario Andretti was away racing at Indianapolis and Lotus ran only one car and Brett Lunger's Surtees had been sold to Henri Pescarolo's Team Norev and the American was waiting for the team to finish a new car for him. Also missing was the second Fittipaldi which had been run for Ingo Hoffmann.

Qualifying resulted in the usual site of Ferrari being 1-2 with Niki Lauda ahead of Clay Regazzoni as usual. Ronnie Peterson was on the second row in his March with Patrick Depailler's Tyrrell six-wheeler alongside, while Jody Scheckter's similar car shared the third row with Hans Stuck's March. Emerson Fittipaldi (who had failed to qualify in Spain) was seventh, ahead of Jacques Laffite (Ligier), Vittorio Brambilla (March) and Jean-Pierre Jarier (Shadow). Chris Amon again showed well in the Ensign in 11th while James Hunt was a disastrous 13th in his McLaren because of gearbox troubles. Carlos Reutemann was the final qualifier in the troublesome Brabham-Alfa Romeo, the Argentine driver become increasingly frustrated with the car's lack of performance.

At the start Lauda went into the lead but it was Peterson who grabbed second from Regazzoni. Most of the field managed to squeeze through Ste Devote but at the back Reutemann collided with Alan Jones's Surtees and both cars retired. The only change at the front in the early laps came on lap 15 when Scheckter passed Depailler to take fourth. Hunt's terrible weekend continued when he spun at Tabac and dropped to the tail of the field. Eventually he went out with an engine failure.

This caused a significant change at the front as oil from Hunt's car caught out Regazzoni and he went up an escape road and dropped behind the two Tyrrells. A lap later Peterson spun on the oil and hit the barriers.

This left Lauda a long way clear of the two Tyrrells, Depailler gradually dropping back as his rear suspension became increasingly fragile. On lap 64 he was overtaken for third by Regazzoni but the Ferrari made a mistake on lap 74 and crashed out and so Depailler regained third. Stuck finished fourth, Mass fifth and Fittipaldi sixth.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
Niki Lauda Ferrari 312T2 78 1h59m51.470s  
Jody Scheckter Tyrrell-Cosworth P34 78 2h00m02.600s  
Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Cosworth P34 78 2h00m56.310s  
34 Hans-Joachim Stuck March-Cosworth 761 77  
12 Jochen Mass McLaren-Cosworth M23 77  11 
30 Emerson Fittipaldi Copersucar-Cosworth FD04 77  
16 Tom Pryce Shadow-Cosworth DN5B 77  15 
17 Jean-Pierre Jarier Shadow-Cosworth DN5B 76  10 
Carlos Pace Brabham-Alfa Romeo BT45 76  13 
10 28 John Watson Penske-Cosworth PC3 76  17 
11 21 Michel Leclere Wolf Williams-Cosworth FW05 76  18 
12r 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra JS5 75 Accident 
13 22 Chris Amon Ensign-Cosworth N176 74  12 
14r Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 312T2 73 Accident 
Gunnar Nilsson Lotus-Cosworth 77 39 Engine 16 
10 Ronnie Peterson March-Cosworth 761 26 Accident 
11 James Hunt McLaren-Cosworth M23 24 Engine 14 
Vittorio Brambilla March-Cosworth 761 Suspension 
19 Alan Jones Surtees-Cosworth TS19 Accident 19 
Carlos Reutemann Brabham-Alfa Romeo BT45 Accident 20 
nq 20 Jacky Ickx Wolf Williams-Cosworth FW05   21 
nq 38 Henri Pescarolo Surtees-Cosworth TS19   22 
nq 37 Larry Perkins Boro-Cosworth N175   23 
nq 24 Harald Ertl Hesketh-Cosworth 308D   24 
nq 35 Arturo Merzario March-Cosworth 761   25