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Watch an iconic 1976 F1 flashpoint - as viewers saw it at the time
🕑 Added 2025-08-09 11:00:08 +0000 UTCThe latest film in our The Race Presents series of uncovered archive gems is the UK TV coverage of the famous 1976 British Grand Prix - one of the classic flashpoints in James Hunt and Niki Lauda's championship battle.
It's what happened in the months after the race that made it so important in the title fight narrative, as on-the-road winner Hunt eventually lost his victory to Lauda two months later after McLaren and Ferrari's legal tit-for-that over whether he should have been allowed to take the restart following the first-corner crash eventually went Ferrari's way.
But our film is how UK viewers saw it all at the time. The BBC had declined to broadcast the race live due to its concerns over particular sponsorship deals including Surtees' Durex backing.
Andrew Marriott, Barrie Gill and Michael Tee's CSS Promotions agency represented both Durex and Imperial Tobacco - which sponsored both the race itself and Lotus, and was very unhappy at the loss of UK live TV for the Brands Hatch event, especially as another CSS client was part of the reason.
ITV offered a half-hour slot for a highlights cut the following Saturday, provided CSS funded it and did the edit. It pulled in enough advertising to do so, and duly produced this film of the iconic race (copyright Pit Lane Productions/Formula 1 Films).
"Back then ITV World of Sport got around 10 million viewers – so while it was shorter, the audience was probably double that if it had been live on BBC," says Marriott. "So a big result for us, particularly as we were also managing James Hunt."
Comments
928pilot
Nothing screams the 70's more than James Hunt bumming a cigarette off a reporter after having just won the British GP 😄👍
Warren Butler
Love the non-PC post race interview. Anyone know why the Lotus cars ran without JPS logos? As JPS sponsored the event their name was prominently shown and McLaren had their usual Marlboro it seems odd that Lotus had an almost blank car. 70s advertising rules must have been complicated!
MitchMcNuggets
When will the race shop release a “keep your city clean - eat a pigeon” tshirt?
Will
I always love these looks back into the past; it’s great to have a window into the sport before my time. Thanks!
DEinDC
Even knowing the results, seeing marshals very close to or on the track still sends chills down my spine.
Jan Machálek
you really should do 76 season revisited. amount of FIA shenanigans can be beaten only by 94
Dennis de Jong
Such a shame that the BBC esentialy missed Hunt his best years as they also didnt do the British GP 77 live.
Lancelott
Great stuff Laffite and that 1st corner would have an even worse event 10 years later
