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.

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.