The 1976 Formula One season was the 30th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1976 World Championship of Drivers and the 1976 International Cup for Formula 1 Manufacturers. The two titles were contested over a sixteen race series which commenced on 25 January and ended on 24 October. Two non-championship races were also held during the 1976 season. In an extraordinarily political and dramatic season, the Drivers' Championship went to McLaren driver James Hunt by one point from Ferrari's defending champion Niki Lauda, although Ferrari took the Manufacturers' trophy.

McLaren Racing Limited is a British motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. McLaren is best known as a Formula One chassis constructor, the second-oldest active team and the second-most successful Formula One team after Ferrari, having won 184 races, 12 Drivers' Championships, and eight Constructors' Championships. McLaren also has a history in American open wheel racing as both an entrant and a chassis constructor, and has won the Canadian-American Challenge Cup (Can-Am) sports car racing championship. McLaren is also one of only three constructors to complete the Triple Crown of Motorsport, a feat that McLaren achieved as a chassis manufacturer by winning the 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans. The team is a subsidiary of the McLaren Group, which owns a majority of the team.