The big news at Monza in September of 1976 was that Niki Lauda was making his return just six weeks after his fiery accident at the Nurburgring. For Ferrari this represented mixed blessings because the Scuderia had just hired Carlos Reutemann as a replacement, the Argentine buying himself out of his Brabham contract! Ferrari had little choice but to field three cars for the Italian Grand Prix.
Reutemann proved himself worthy of the ride by positioning himself between Ferraris regular drivers, Lauda and Regazzoni. Starting in 5th, 7th and 9th, the three blood red racers formed an intimidating lineup on the grid.
Reutemann and Regazzoni got past Lauda on the start. The pair, who would become teammates in 1977, surged forward in hot pursuit of the leaders. Regazzoni took 5th place from Reutemann and drove his well-behaved Ferrari 312T2 to a second-place finish. Reutemann demonstrated that he was quick, but his choice to use 7mm less rear wing than his stable mates made the #35 Ferrari 312T2 a bit tricky to handle. He was also cramped in the tight Ferrari cockpit. The end result was a ninth. But any top ten finish is deserving of credit, especially when ones first drive for Ferrari comes at Monza!
Carlos Reutemann (behind) and teammate, Clay Regazzoni, in the early laps.
