1976 Swedish Grand Prix

  1976 Swedish Grand Prix

Race details
Race 7 of 16 in the 1976 Formula One season
Date	13 June 1976
Location	Scandinavian Raceway, Anderstorp
Course	4.025 km (2.501 mi)
Distance	72 laps, 289.8 km (180.1 mi)
Weather	Dry
Pole position
Driver	Jody Scheckter	Tyrrell-Ford
Time	1:25.659
Fastest lap
Driver	Mario Andretti	Lotus-Ford
Time	1:28.002 on lap 11
Podium
First	Jody Scheckter	Tyrrell-Ford
Second	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford
Third	Niki Lauda	Ferrari

The Tyrrell P34 being driven by Jody Scheckter at the 1976 German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring. The '76 Swedish GP was its only win, and Scheckter won this race from the pole.

The 1976 Swedish Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Scandinavian Raceway in Anderstorp, Sweden on June 13, 1976. It was the seventh round of the 1976 Formula One season and the ninth Swedish Grand Prix. The race was contested over 72 laps of the 4.0 km circuit for a race distance of 290 kilometres.

It saw the first and only win of a six-wheel car - the Tyrrell P34. The theory was that its four tiny front wheels would increase mechanical front-end grip – with more rubber on the road – and thus eliminate understeer while at the same time improve cornering and braking. When it was revealed it was the instant sensation of the 1976 season. The car was a photo opportunity on wheels – six of them, which was precisely why – and must have given Elf more free publicity in the 1976 pre-season and beyond than it garnered during the whole of 1974 and 1975.

Tyrrell's Jody Scheckter took pole, with Patrick Depailler in fourth. In the race it was Mario Andretti in the Lotus 77 who led for much of the race. Andretti however had been penalised sixty seconds for jumping the start. Andretti's engine failed on lap 46 while attempting to build his lead over the two Tyrrells. They went on to finish first and second, Jody Scheckter leading Patrick Depailler to the line for his second Swedish Grand Prix victory. The South African, who when later probed confided that he thought the six-wheeled concept ridiculous, was beaming on the podium. However the Swedish walkover proved to be the only win for the P34. It was retired at the end of the 1977 season.

Eight laps before Andretti's retirement Chris Amon crashed his Ensign N176 after a suspension failure, allowing championship leader Niki Lauda to move into the position that became third in his Ferrari 312T2. Jacques Laffite continued to show the promise of the Ligier JS5 in fourth. James Hunt was fifth in his McLaren M23 and Clay Regazzoni climbed into the final point in the second Ferrari late in the race.

Classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	3	Jody Scheckter	Tyrrell-Ford	72	1:46:53.729	1	9
2	4	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	72	+ 19.766	4	6
3	1	Niki Lauda	Ferrari	72	+ 33.866	5	4
4	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	72	+ 55.819	7	3
5	11	James Hunt	McLaren-Ford	72	+ 59.483	8	2
6	2	Clay Regazzoni	Ferrari	72	+ 1:00.366	11	1
7	10	Ronnie Peterson	March-Ford	72	+ 1:03.493	9
8	8	Carlos Pace	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	72	+ 1:11.613	10
9	16	Tom Pryce	Shadow-Ford	71	+ 1 lap	12
10	9	Vittorio Brambilla	March-Ford	71	+ 1 Lap	15
11	12	Jochen Mass	McLaren-Ford	71	+ 1 Lap	13
12	17	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Shadow-Ford	71	+ 1 Lap	14
13	19	Alan Jones	Surtees-Ford	71	+ 1 Lap	18
14	35	Arturo Merzario	March-Ford	70	Engine	19
15	18	Brett Lunger	Surtees-Ford	70	+ 2 Laps	24
Ret	24	Harald Ertl	Hesketh-Ford	54	Spun Off	23
Ret	34	Hans-Joachim Stuck	March-Ford	52	Engine	20
Ret	5	Mario Andretti	Lotus-Ford	45	Engine	2
Ret	22	Chris Amon	Ensign-Ford	38	Accident	3
Ret	21	Michel Leclère	Wolf-Williams-Ford	20	Engine	25
Ret	37	Larry Perkins	Boro-Ford	18	Engine	22
Ret	30	Emerson Fittipaldi	Fittipaldi-Ford	10	Handling	21
Ret	32	Loris Kessel	Brabham-Ford	5	Accident	26
Ret	6	Gunnar Nilsson	Lotus-Ford	2	Accident	6
Ret	7	Carlos Reutemann	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	2	Engine	16
Ret	28	John Watson	Penske-Ford	0	Accident	17
DNQ	33	Jac Nelleman	Brabham-Ford

Notes

• Pole position: Jody Scheckter - 1:25.659
• Fastest lap: Mario Andretti - 1:28.002 on lap 11

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Niki Lauda 52 2 Jody Scheckter 23 3 Patrick Depailler 20 4 James Hunt 17 5 Clay Regazzoni 16

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Ferrari 55 2 Tyrrell-Ford 31 3 McLaren-Ford 23 4 Ligier-Matra 10 5 March-Ford 6

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

References

Unless otherwise indicated, all race results are taken from "The Official Formula 1 website". http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1976/448/. Retrieved 2007-06-16. 

Previous race: 1976 Monaco Grand Prix	FIA Formula One World Championship 1976 season	Next race: 1976 French Grand Prix
Previous race: 1975 Swedish Grand Prix	Swedish Grand Prix	Next race: 1977 Swedish Grand Prix

This page uses some content from Wikipedia. The original article was at 1976 Swedish Grand Prix. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Autopedia, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.