On the afternoon of 15 August, 1976, John Watson took the checkered flag at the Osterreichring to snag his very first Formula 1 victory during the Austrian Grand Prix.

A normally momentous occasion for any driver, Watson has admitted that there was “a sense of irony” in taking victory for Penske Racing, whose driver Mark Donohue had been killed at that very track the year prior.

John Watson recalls an ironic first F1 win

The atmosphere of the Penske Racing garage at the Osterreichring on the morning of 15 August, 1976 must have been a heavy one. Race day for the Austrian Grand Prix had arrived with an emotional heft not uncommon in Formula 1, but its expectation wouldn’t make things any easier.

It was to be a strange event. Just two weeks before, Austrian driver Niki Lauda had suffered

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