F1 driver standings
| Pos | Driver | BRA  | ZAF  | USW  | ESP  | BEL  | MCO  | SWE  | FRA  | GBR  | DEU  | AUT  | NLD  | ITA  | CAN  | USA | JPN  | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | James Hunt | R | 2 | R | 1 | R | R | 5 | 1 | DSQ | 1 | 4 | 1 | R | 1 | 1 | 3 | 69 |
| 2 | Niki Lauda | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | R | 1 | R | 4 | 8 | 3 | R | 68 | ||
| 3 | Jody Scheckter | 5 | 4 | R | R | 4 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 2 | R | 5 | 5 | 4 | 2 | R | 49 |
| 4 | Patrick Depailler | 2 | 9 | 3 | R | R | 3 | 2 | 2 | R | R | R | 7 | 6 | 2 | R | 2 | 39 |
| 5 |  Clay Regazzoni | 7 | R | 1 | 11 | 2 | 14R | 6 | R | DSQ | 9 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 31 | |
| 6 | Mario Andretti | R | 6 | R | R | R | R | 5 | R | 12 | 5 | 3 | R | 3 | R | 1 | 22 | |
| 7 | John Watson | R | 5 | NC | R | 7 | 10 | R | 3 | 3 | 7 | 1 | R | 11 | 10 | 6 | R | 20 |
| = | Jacques Laffite | R | R | 4 | 12 | 3 | 12R | 4 | 14 | DSQ | R | 2 | R | 3 | R | R | 7 | 20 |
| 9 | Jochen Mass | 6 | 3 | 5 | R | 6 | 5 | 11 | 15 | R | 3 | 7 | 9 | R | 5 | 4 | R | 19 |
| 10 | Gunnar Nilsson | R | R | 3 | R | R | R | R | R | 5 | 3 | R | 13 | 12 | R | 6 | 11 | |
| 11 | Ronnie Peterson | R | R | 10 | R | R | R | 7 | 19R | R | R | 6 | R | 1 | 9 | R | R | 10 |
| = | Tom Pryce | 3 | 7 | R | 8 | 10 | 7 | 9 | 8 | 4 | 8 | R | 4 | 8 | 11 | R | R | 10 |
| 13 | Hans-Joachim Stuck | 4 | 12 | R | R | R | 4 | R | 7 | R | R | R | R | R | R | 5 | R | 8 |
| 14 | Carlos Pace | 10 | R | 9 | 6 | R | 9 | 8 | 4 | 8 | 4 | R | R | R | 7 | R | R | 7 |
| = |  Alan Jones | NC | 9 | 5 | R | 13 | R | 5 | 10 | R | 8 | 12 | 16 | 8 | 4 | 7 | ||
| 16 |  Carlos Reutemann | 12R | R | R | 4 | R | R | R | 11 | R | R | R | R | 9 | 3 | |||
| = | Emerson Fittipaldi | 13 | 17R | 6 | R | DNQ | 6 | R | R | 6 | 13 | R | R | 15 | R | 9 | R | 3 |
| 18 |  Chris Amon | 14 | 8 | 5 | R | 13 | R | R | R | DNS | 2 | |||||||
| 19 | Rolf Stommelen | 6 | 12 | R | 1 | |||||||||||||
| = | Vittorio Brambilla | R | 8 | R | R | R | R | 10 | R | R | R | R | 6 | 7 | 14 | R | R | 1 |
| Harald Ertl | 15 | DNQ | DNQ | R | DNQ | R | R | 7 | R | 8 | R | 16R | DNS | 13 | 8 | |||
| Jean-Pierre Jarier | R | R | 7 | R | 9 | 8 | 12 | 12 | 9 | 11 | R | 10 | 19 | 18 | 10 | 10 | ||
| Jacky Ickx | 8 | 16 | DNQ | 7 | DNQ | DNQ | 10 | DNQ | R | 10 | 13 | R | ||||||
| Larry Perkins | 13 | 8 | DNQ | R | R | R | 17 | R | R | |||||||||
| Henri Pescarolo | DNQ | R | R | DNQ | 9 | 11 | 17 | 19 | NC | |||||||||
| Arturo Merzario | DNQ | R | R | DNQ | 14R | 9 | R | R | R | R | DNS | R | R | R | ||||
| Renzo Zorzi | 9 | |||||||||||||||||
| Noritake Takahara | 9 | |||||||||||||||||
| Michel Leclere | 13 | DNQ | 10 | 11 | 11 | R | 13 | |||||||||||
| Brett Lunger | 11 | DNQ | DNQ | R | 15 | 16 | R | R | 10R | 14 | 15 | 11 | ||||||
| Bob Evans | 10 | DNQ | R | |||||||||||||||
| Alessandro Pesenti-Rossi | 14 | 11 | DNQ | 18 | ||||||||||||||
| Ingo Hoffmann | 11 | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | ||||||||||||||
| Masahiro Hasemi | 11 | |||||||||||||||||
| Loris Kessel | DNQ | 12 | R | DNQ | NC | |||||||||||||
| Lella Lombardi | 14 | DNQ | DNQ | 12 | ||||||||||||||
| Alex Ribeiro | 12 | |||||||||||||||||
| Warwick Brown | 14 | |||||||||||||||||
| Guy Edwards | DNQ | 17 | R | 15 | DNS | 20 | ||||||||||||
| Patrick Neve | R | 18 | ||||||||||||||||
| Hans Binder | R | R | ||||||||||||||||
| Ian Ashley | R | |||||||||||||||||
| Ian Scheckter | R | |||||||||||||||||
| Boy Hayje | R | |||||||||||||||||
| Conny Andersson | R | |||||||||||||||||
| Kazuyoshi Hoshino | R | |||||||||||||||||
| Otto Stuppacher | DNS | DNQ | DNQ | |||||||||||||||
| Masami Kuwashima | DNS | |||||||||||||||||
| Emilio Zapico | DNQ | |||||||||||||||||
| Emilio de Villota | DNQ | |||||||||||||||||
 Jac Nellemann | DNQ | |||||||||||||||||
| Damien Magee | DNQ | |||||||||||||||||
| Divina Galica | DNQ | |||||||||||||||||
| Mike Wilds | DNQ | |||||||||||||||||
| Tony Trimmer | DNQ | |||||||||||||||||
| No. | Driver | BRA | ZAF | USW | ESP | BEL | MCO | SWE | FRA | GBR | DEU | AUT | NLD | ITA | CAN | USA | JPN | Points |
Table key
- Highlight: Rookie
- Bold: pole position
- Underline: fastest lap
- Bold & underline: pole & fastest lap
- DNQ: Did not qualify
- NC: Not classified
- DSQ: Disqualified
- DNS: Did not start
Points system and championship rules
The top six classified finishers of each race were awarded points on the following basis:
- 1st (9)
- 2nd (6)
- 3rd (4)
- 4th (3)
- 5th (2)
- 6th (1)
Only the best seven results from the first eight races and the best seven results from the last eight races counted towards the championship.
Race to the title
The Race to the title graph shows how the title race played out over the course of the season between the top five drivers of 1976.