March 761

In 1976, Ronnie Peterson was unhappy with the uncompetitive Lotus 77,[1] and returned to March[1] for whom he scored the team's second and last win at Monza. The 761 was fast but fragile[2] and by this point the F1 effort was being run on a shoestring with a two-car 'works' effort featuring Peterson and Hans-Joachim Stuck, the cars tending to turn up in different liveries as race-by-race sponsorship deals were signed,[2] and a 'B-team' entered under the March Engines banner for paying drivers Lella Lombardi and Arturo Merzario. By now the F1 effort as a whole was under fairly severe pressure from BMW, which wanted Robin Herd to concentrate entirely on the works' Formula Two effort, which was starting to be outpaced by French constructors (Martini and Elf) and the new Ralt marque.

That year, Peterson scored only one other point before being brokered back into a deal with Tyrrell for 1977.[1] Although he felt most at home at March,[1] it was clear that the team didn't have the resources to do Formula One "properly".

A token F1 effort with Rothmans sponsorship was run in 1977 for Alex Ribeiro and Ian Scheckter, but nothing worthwhile was achieved. Yet, as the works were fading from F1 the 761, by virtue of being cheap, simple and readily available, became the tool of choice for privateers, notably Frank Williams who after his acrimonious split with Walter Wolf needed a car to get back into racing before his own vehicle was ready.

Merzario later built his own unsuccessful F1 car based on his old 761,[3] which he and Simon Hadfield attempted to develop into a ground effect car.[3] This programme was completely unsuccessful.

At the end of the 1977 season, the F1 team's assets and FOCA membership were sold to ATS[4] (who had bought the Penske cars); Herd was retained by them as a consultant and was hence in the curious position of developing a development of his own 1975 car - and the 1978 ATS had some features reminiscent of contemporary March thinking. Mosley left the company to concentrate on FOCA matters.[4]

March 761 front-view

(key) (results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Engine	Tyres	Drivers	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Points	WCC
1976	March Engineering	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	G		BRA	RSA	USW	ESP	BEL	MON	SWE	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	CAN	USA	JPN		19	7th
				Ronnie Peterson		Ret		Ret	Ret	Ret	7	19	Ret	Ret	6	Ret	1	9	Ret	Ret
	Theodore Racing						10
				Hans-Joachim Stuck			Ret
	March Racing				4	12		Ret	Ret	4	Ret	7	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	5	Ret
	Beta Team March			Vittorio Brambilla	Ret	8	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	10	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	6	7	14	Ret	Ret
	Lavazza March			Lella Lombardi	14
	Ovoro March			Arturo Merzario				DNQ	Ret	Ret	DNQ	14	9	Ret
1977	Hollywood March Racing	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	G		ARG	BRA	RSA	USW	ESP	MON	BEL	SWE	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	USA	CAN	JPN	0	20th
				Alex Ribeiro	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	8	DNQ	11	DNQ	15	8	12
	Team Rothmans International			Ian Scheckter	Ret	Ret			11	DNQ	Ret	Ret	NC	Ret	Ret	Ret
				Hans-Joachim Stuck			Ret
				Brian Henton				10
	British Formula One Racing Team								DNQ					DNQ		DNQ
				Bernard de Dryver							DNQ
	Chesterfield Racing			Brett Lunger			14	Ret	10
	RAM Racing			Boy Hayje			Ret		DNQ	DNQ	NC	DNQ					DNQ
				Mikko Kozarowitzky								DNQ		DNPQ
				Andy Sutcliffe										DNPQ
				Michael Bleekemolen													DNQ
	Williams Grand Prix Engineering			Patrick Nève					12		10	15	DNQ	10	DNQ	9	DNQ	7	18	Ret
	Team Merzario			Arturo Merzario					Ret	DNQ	14		Ret	Ret	DNQ		DNQ