The Hungarian Grand Prix was first held in 1986 and has been staged continuously since then, for 34 years, with all races run at the Hungaroring in the height of summer. This event is usually the final round prior to the season’s summer break, when racing and all factory activity has to stop, creating a watershed moment in the year.
That means everyone wants to do well there, because there’s no better way to go on holiday than with the winner’s trophy from the Hungarian GP in your hands.
The Hungarian Grand Prix has played a special role in the history of our team, because it was at this race that a couple of our drivers started their F1 careers with us, including our most successful alumnus Sebastian Vettel.
BEHIND THE VISOR: EPISODE 10 “WHY”
Why did Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda choose to aim for Formula 1? Well, if you guessed because they’re the fastest cars in the world with the best drivers, you’re pretty much correct!
Fun and frustration at the Hungarian GP
When the Formula 1 circus first came here in ’86, Hungary wasn’t quite the Forbidden City, but it did provide a tantalising glimpse of life in “Eastern” Europe, with armed border guards, austere living conditions and a sense you were stepping back in time. It was often said that Budapest was a great city to go shopping if there was anything you had forgotten to buy in the Sixties!
These days, it’s a bustling modern city, apart from the magnificent historic buildings and its most appealing natural feature, the River Danube that cuts it into Buda and Pest, the two sides joined by some spectacular bridges.
The actual Hungaroring circuit is fun and frustrating all at the same time: driving a single lap of this twisty “Monaco without the barriers” is a challenge enjoyed by all the drivers, but on race day, the difficulties of overtaking, despite the main straight being lengthened a few years back, can make for the occasional traffic jam.
A big accident at the first corner knocked out several cars and, in the end, a maiden victory went to Esteban Ocon for Alpine, ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton. But the Aston Martin driver was disqualified, so that Carlos Sainz found himself promoted to third in the Ferrari.
