1976 German Grand Prix - Race Report

Race Report

The race weekend began with some changes to the drivers' lineup: Jacky Ickx was fired from the Walter Wolf Racing team and was replaced by Arturo Merzario, and there was a new team present, Scuderia Rondini, which bought an old Tyrrell 007 for Alessandro Pesenti-Rossi. RAM was going to run Rolf Stommelen in one of its ex-works Brabham BT44s, but in the middle of the practice session the local police impounded the cars (because of a legal action by former driver Loris Kessel), and as a result Stommelen transferred to the works Brabham team to drive a spare Alfa-Romeo-powered BT45.

In 1975, Lauda had been the first and only driver to break the 7-Minute-mark. Fans were looking forward whether he or others could repeat this after the technical rules had been changed, with the disappearance of the high air boxes being the most visible difference. Due to wet conditions on Saturday, the grid was already determined in Friday qualifying, with 7:06-plus lap times similar to those of 1972. James Hunt took the pole with Niki Lauda second, while Patrick Depailler lined up third in the six-wheeled Tyrrell P34. Hans-Joachim Stuck was fourth in his March ahead of Clay Regazzoni, Jacques Laffite, Carlos Pace, Jody Scheckter, Jochen Mass and Carlos Reutemann.

The weather turned to wet before the race and so most drivers started the race on wet tyres, except Jochen Mass, who, having lots of experience at the Nürburgring and expecting a change for better weather, decided to use dry weather tyres. At the start Regazzoni took the lead while both Hunt and Lauda fell back. Hunt took second, third was a fast-starting Mass, fourth was Laffite who took advantage from the fact that Stuck's car had been pushed off the grid with a clutch problem (although the German started at the back of the field). In the course of the first lap Regazzoni spun and dropped to fourth. At the end of the lap, the weather changed back to dry and most pilots pitted for dry tyres, leaving Mass with the second place behind Peterson, who decided to go on wet tyres for another lap. At the end of lap 2 Mass was in front, with Gunnar Nilsson (who had not stopped) in second place and Hunt third.

Niki Lauda had also changed his tyres after lap 1 and was trying hard to make up for the lost time. Just after the fast left kink before the Bergwerk right hand curve, his Ferrari 312T2 snapped to the right and spun through the fencing into an earth bank. The car bounced back onto the track, enveloped in flames. Guy Edwards managed to avoid the Ferrari but Harald Ertl and Brett Lunger both hit it. All three drivers stopped and tried to get Lauda out of the flames and they were joined by Merzario who stopped his Wolf Williams after seeing the wreck. Lauda had suffered serious burns and was rushed by helicopter to the Bundeswehr hospital in Koblenz; from there he was flown to the Trauma Clinic in Ludwigshafen, home to Germany's most advanced burn ward at the time, where he fought for his life for the next few days.

Most cars had assembled at the crash site, being unable to pass by on the narrow track. The race had been stopped after the accident and at the restart there were only 20 cars (4 cars fewer than the first start), but Chris Amon decided not to start the race again. The rain had gone and Hunt took the lead from Regazzoni, Scheckter, Depailler and Pace. At the Flugplatz Peterson lost control of his March and crashed heavily while Regazzoni had another spin and Depailler went off avoiding the Ferrari. Pace overtook Scheckter and so ended the first lap in second place. On the second lap Scheckter passed Pace and the Brazilian fell behind Regazzoni on the third lap, during which sixth placed Vittorio Brambilla crashed at Adenau Bridge because of a brake failure on his March. Mass took advantage of it and overtook Gunnar Nilsson on the fifth lap and Pace on lap 10. On the 12th lap Regazzoni spun again and Mass moved to third with Pace fourth, Nilsson fifth and Stommelen sixth.

After nearly 50 years of being the host venue for Germany's premier motor racing event, this was to be the last German Grand Prix on the old Nürburgring and the last on the Nordschleife section. The circuit proved to be too dangerous and too difficult to manage satisfactorily for Formula One. The sport moved to the fast and relatively safer Hockenheimring in southern West Germany in 1977. Formula One would return to the new 2.8 mile Nürburgring for the European Grand Prix in 1984, and the German Grand Prix in 1985.

Chris Amon decided to end his career immediately after Lauda's accident.