Race 12 of 19 in the 2010 season will mark the 25th time Formula 1 has visited Hungary. The Hungaroring track, a stone’s throw from capital city Budapest, has a reputation of providing processional races although it has in fact thrown up more than its fair share of high drama over the past two and half decades.
Hungary first hit the Formula 1 scene in 1986, a classic championship year which also provided a classic opening race for the landlocked country as pole man Ayrton Senna’s Lotus went wheel-to-wheel, making contact, with eventual race winner Nélson Piquet’s Williams.
The city itself is a relic, containing venues such as Heroes’ Square, and in November 1873 became one as Buda – the older part – joined with Pest – the newer – with now only the river Danube separating them. For the time of year, the climate also ensures that only one of the previous 24 races has been affected by rain.
Without a doubt, qualifying at the tight, twisty, confined, 2.7-mile Hungaroring is more vital than at any other permanent race track on the calendar; to date, just under half of the Grands Prix held in Hungary have been won from pole position although that doesn’t mean that overtaking is impossible…
In 1989, the fourth race at the track, the Ferrari of Nigel ‘Il Leone’ Mansell started from 12th on the grid but produced a storming drive which saw the Englishman take advantage of leader Ayrton Senna, sweeping around the McLaren in the late stages as the Brazilian found himself boxed in behind the lapped Stefan Johansson’s Onyx whilst exiting Turn 4.
We’d thought we’d never see anything of the like again in Hungary although Jenson Button came from even further back on the grid, 14th, to take his maiden career victory for Honda on a damp day in what was with no doubt the most entertaining Grand Prix of the 2006 season, just proving that anything really can happen in Formula 1.
Due to its mid-summer slot on the calendar, Hungary does not tend to decide championships although it has been the venue for three title collections during the Ferrari dominance years, with Michael Schumacher taking the drivers’ crown in 2001 as his team enjoyed constructors’ honours in 2001, 2002 and 2004.
The circuit has also provided a mixture of heartbreak and amazement, with then reigning Champion Damon Hill missing out on the top podium step due to a throttle problem with his Arrows in 1997 before Schumacher set fastest lap after fastest lap to record what many regard as his greatest ever drive a year later.
Nowadays, one looks to McLaren for victory – having won the last three events – although, up until last year, Hungary had boasted seven different winners from as many seasons. The track has also welcomed a quartet of first-time winners; Damon Hill for Williams in 1993 (three years before winning his title), Fernando Alonso for Renault in 2003 (two years before winning his first title), Button for Honda in 2006 (three years before winning his title) and the so far sole success of the popular Heikki Kovalainen for McLaren in 2008.
This year we head to the Hungaroring following the high controversy of Germany, with Felipe Massa having been instructed to wave team-mate Fernando Alonso through to victory at Ferrari.
Hopefully, for the Brazilian’s sake, better luck will be enjoyed in Hungary this time around although latest results at the track would suggest otherwise, with 2008 having featured an engine blow while just three laps from victory and last year bringing with it the terrifying incident from which the Paulista thankfully came away with his life, as if by some miracle after being struck by a steel spring off Rubens Barrichello’s car.
Laps: 70
Direction: Clockwise
Corners: 14
Lap record: 1:19.071 / M. Schumacher / Ferrari / 2004
Local start time: 2pm (BST +1)
Slick tyre compounds:
Super Soft & Medium
FIA driver race steward:
Derek Warwick (GBR)
Circuit changes for 2010:
No major changes, routine maintenance only
At a glance:
- Hungaroring pole position winners
- Hungaroring Grand Prix winners
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