1976 United States Grand Prix
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 15 of 16 in the 1976 Formula One season | |||
 |
|||
| Date | October 10, 1976 | ||
| Official name | XIX United States Grand Prix | ||
| Location |
Watkins Glen Grand Prix Race Course Watkins Glen, New York |
||
| Course | Permanent road course | ||
| Course length | 5.435 km (3.377 mi) | ||
| Distance | 59 laps, 320.67 km (199.24 mi) | ||
| Weather | Sunny with temperatures reaching up to 61 °F (16 °C); winds gusting up to 15.9 miles per hour (25.6 km/h) | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | McLaren-Ford | ||
| Time | 1:43.622 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |
 James Hunt |
McLaren-Ford | |
| Time | 1:42.851 on lap 53 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First |
|
McLaren-Ford | |
| Second | Tyrrell-Ford | ||
| Third | Ferrari | ||
The 1976 United States Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on October 10, 1976, at the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Race Course in Watkins Glen, New York. This event was also referred to as the United States Grand Prix East in order to distinguish it from the United States Grand Prix West held on March 28, 1976, in Long Beach, California.
Austrian Niki Lauda arrived in the United States for the penultimate race of 1976 with an eight-point lead over Britain's James Hunt in the driver's championship. Lauda had led comfortably with five wins in the season's first nine races, before his life-threatening crash at the Nürburgring in August. Hunt then won three of the next five races, including Germany where Lauda was injured. Lauda recovered to race in Italy and Canada (won by Hunt), but his lead over Hunt in the driver's championship had narrowed considerably.
Friday's first qualifying session saw only a handful of drivers venture out onto a wet race track. When Austrian Otto Stuppacher went out first, there were still streams of water running across in places. McLaren manager Teddy Mayer said "The drivers finished in reverse ratio to the proportion of their IQs."
The rain stopped before the afternoon session began, and after 15 minutes on the still wet track, drivers began changing to slicks. Times dropped quickly on the drying track as driver after driver jumped to the top of the charts, only to fall back down again as the others went faster, too.
Hunt and Patrick Depailler, who was driving one of the six-wheeled Tyrrells, were dueling for top spot, with Depailler following Hunt's McLaren on the track, when the air bottle for the McLaren's compressor starter fell off and hit the Tyrrell's two left front wheels and the monocoque. Both wheels were broken, and even after stopping to replace them, Depailler's steering was out of line, and he could manage only seventh quickest. Later, as Hunt stood in the pits next to a four-foot, 150-pound air bottle, Rob Walker asked, "Was that the one you threw at Depailler?" James answered, "No, we are keeping that one for Niki on Sunday!"
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