1976 saw the departure of Fittipaldi from McLaren and his replacement by James Hunt. The English driver was able to win the drivers' championship in a season characterized by an initial domination by Lauda, at least until his accident at the Nürburgring which limited the Austrian's ascent to the title. Hunt immediately conquered two poles in the first two races and the first victory in the Spanish Grand Prix where among other things he also conquered his third pole in four races. The Englishman also took first place in France, Germany, Holland, Canada and the Eastern United States of America. The Englishman's strength was even more evident in practice where he scored three more poles, for a total of 7 as a side dish, three other starts in the front row. With third place in the final race held under a downpour at Fuji, he won an incredible world title, with a single point advantage over Lauda. Hunt also obtained two fastest laps, one was recorded by Jochen Mass. The car scored a total of 88 points during the season.