50 YEARS OF THE 1976 FORMULA ONE SEASON - RACE 4: SPAIN
While James Hunt and Niki Lauda may have been on the front row of the front row during the first grand prix of the European Season at the Jarama circuit, it was the third-place man who was the biggest talking point. Patrick Depailler of the Tyrrell was driving the revolutionary Tyrrell P34, the first car to feature six wheels on a Formula 1 car. Lauda, driving with broken ribs after an accident on a tractor, once again beat Hunt off the line at the start and led for the first third of the race. Depailler, after a slow start, was running fourth behind McLaren's Jochen Mass when he spun off and crashed with brake problems. Just before mid-race, Hunt and Mass found another gear and drove past Lauda, but towards the end of the race, Mass had to retire with an engine failure. Hunt took his first win of the season, with Lauda second and Gunnar Nilsson's Lotus third. Hunt’s celebrations were short-lived as the scrutineers found that his car was 1.5cm too wide, thereby disqualifying him for the win and giving the victory to Lauda. This now gave Lauda a twenty-three point lead over Depailler in the Championship.
