Round 12 - Hungaroring
Summary
This year marks the twenty-fifth running of the modern Magyar Nagydíj, all held at the Hungaroring on the outskirts of beautiful Budapest. Back in 1986, of course, the inclusion of the first Grand Prix held behind the Iron Curtain caused considerable interest. Luckily for ringmaster Bernie Ecclestone, that first race was a great success and set the template for an event that has consistently been favoured by large numbers of fans from all over Europe (including Finland!) if not always by the drivers.
The circuit itself has remained comparatively unchanged since debuting on the calendar. It has been described as "Monaco without the walls" and the tight, twisting lap does produce one of the slowest average speeds of the season. In 1989 a convoluted loop section on the exit of what is now Turn 3 was bypassed, giving the circuit a second straight worthy of the name. The safety review following the deaths of Ratzenberger and Senna in 1994 had no recommendations for the Hungaroring, and it was 2003 before any more changes were made - this time lengthening the main straight and tightening the first corner, as well as one of the 90-degree right-handers towards the end of the lap, in an attempt to create some much-needed overtaking possibilities.
The first race, though largely uneventful, is fondly remembered for Nelson Piquet's four-wheel-drift pass around the outside of Ayrton Senna's Lotus at the first turn. Subsequent events proved how difficult passing can be, with Thierry Boutsen keeping a gaggle of faster car/driver combinations at bay to score his final victory in 1990. The year before, Nigel Mansell had proved the exception to the rule (as so often), climbing from 12th on the grid to take a superb victory for Ferrari. Nigel won his world championship title with a second place there in 1992, while Damon Hill took his first win in Hungary the following year, after several near-misses.
In 1998 the Hungaroring was the scene of one of Michael Schumacher's greatest performances. The German superstar went into the weekend trailing McLaren's Mika Hakkinen in the world championship and spent the first part of the race trapped behind his rival and the other McLaren of David Coulthard. Following Ross Brawn's switch onto a three-stop strategy, Schumacher produced a series of blistering laps to make up a seemingly insurmountable deficit and rejoined from his final pitstop in a lead he would not lose. The circuit showcased another great driving performance in 2006, when Jenson Button sealed his long-awaited first victory with a wet-weather masterclass in the Honda. The event has, perhaps surprisingly, rarely been won by the seasonal champion, the last occasion being Michael Schumacher's victory in 2004.
The circuit presents a number of challenges to teams and drivers - the track is seldom used by other series throughout the year and in August is usually very dry and dusty, taking a long time to "rubber-in" as the weekend progresses. Cooling can be an issue, with ambient temperatures averaging 27C and only one long straight to feed the radiators with high-energy air. Finally, the drivers are put to the test both physically and mentally, with few opportunities to relax concentration over a very busy lap, and one of the longest race durations.
The overall finishing rate at the Hungaroring is around the average for this year's circuits.
The likelihood of a driver-related retirement is also average.
Mechanical failures at Budapest are a more likely occurrence than at other current tracks.
Finally, the circuit ranks as about average for first-lap retirements in the past five years.
The Last Five Years
[td]Year[/td][td]Starters[/td][td]Finishers[/td][td]Retirements - Mech[/td][td]Retirements - Acc[/td][td]Lap 1 retirements[/td][td]Most places gained[/td]
Circuit Ranking (of all 18 circuits)
Finishing Rate
...
10th Spa 78%
11th Hungaroring 78%
12th Monte Carlo 77%
...
Mechanical Failures
...
4th Montreal 17%
5th Hungaroring 16%
6th= Melbourne 13%
6th= Sepang 13%
...
Driver-related Retirements
...
10th Shanghai 10%
11th Hungaroring 9%
12th Suzuka 8%
...
First lap Retirements
...
7th Sepang 3.8%
8th Hungaroring 2.9%
9th Valencia 2.5%
...
Impressively, this year's grid includes six former Hungarian Grand Prix winners, and three other podium finishers - plus Sebastian Vettel, Felipe Massa, Nico Rosberg and Robert Kubica, who fall into neither category! Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button both recorded their first wins at the circuit, in 2003 and 2006 respectively. Other drivers will take cheer from their previous results; Mark Webber qualified his Jaguar a superb third in 2003, while Pedro de la Rosa was a career-best second behind Button in 2006. Conversely Felipe Massa's best result in Budapest is seventh, and last year a dreadful accident in qualifying approaching Turn 4 brought a premature end to his season. Of the others, Lewis Hamilton has two poles and a fourth in his three starts, while Nico Rosberg qualified fourth in 2007 and has been a consistent scorer.
With four wins in the past five years, and the last three on the bounce, McLaren appear the team to beat at the Hungaroring. While the overall points standings are dominated by McLaren and Ferrari, good results have been reasonably well distributed around the other teams, with wins for Mercedes GP (as Honda) and Renault. In the reliability stakes, Red Bull and sister team Toro Rosso have seen more than their share of reliability gremlins, while Williams have got their cars to the finish on eighteen of the last twenty attempts.
Current Drivers' Records at Hungaroring
[td]Driver[/td][td]Starts[/td][td]Finishes[/td][td]Best result[/td][td]Points[/td][td]Retirements - Mech[/td][td]Retirements - Acc[/td][td]Average grid pos.[/td]
Chassis Records at Hungaroring (since 2000)
[td]Chassis[/td][td]Starts[/td][td]Finishes[/td][td]Best result[/td][td]Points[/td][td]Retirements - Mech[/td][td]Retirements - Acc[/td][td]Average grid pos.[/td]Results for Mercedes GP include BAR, Honda and Brawn
Results for Renault include Benetton
Results for BMW Sauber include Sauber
Results for Red Bull include Jaguar
Results for Force India include Jordan, Midland and Spyker
Results for Toro Rosso include Minardi
Engine Records at Hungaroring (since 2000)
[td]Engine[/td][td]Starts[/td][td]Finishes[/td][td]Best result[/td][td]Points[/td][td]Retirements - Mech[/td][td]Retirements - Acc[/td][td]Average grid pos.[/td]Results for Ferrari include Petronas and Acer
Results for Cosworth include Ford
All ranking figures are expressed as a % of total starts.
"Retirements-Acc" are retirements where the reason has been listed as Collision, Accident or Spun Off.
Summary
This year marks the twenty-fifth running of the modern Magyar Nagydíj, all held at the Hungaroring on the outskirts of beautiful Budapest. Back in 1986, of course, the inclusion of the first Grand Prix held behind the Iron Curtain caused considerable interest. Luckily for ringmaster Bernie Ecclestone, that first race was a great success and set the template for an event that has consistently been favoured by large numbers of fans from all over Europe (including Finland!) if not always by the drivers.
The circuit itself has remained comparatively unchanged since debuting on the calendar. It has been described as "Monaco without the walls" and the tight, twisting lap does produce one of the slowest average speeds of the season. In 1989 a convoluted loop section on the exit of what is now Turn 3 was bypassed, giving the circuit a second straight worthy of the name. The safety review following the deaths of Ratzenberger and Senna in 1994 had no recommendations for the Hungaroring, and it was 2003 before any more changes were made - this time lengthening the main straight and tightening the first corner, as well as one of the 90-degree right-handers towards the end of the lap, in an attempt to create some much-needed overtaking possibilities.
The first race, though largely uneventful, is fondly remembered for Nelson Piquet's four-wheel-drift pass around the outside of Ayrton Senna's Lotus at the first turn. Subsequent events proved how difficult passing can be, with Thierry Boutsen keeping a gaggle of faster car/driver combinations at bay to score his final victory in 1990. The year before, Nigel Mansell had proved the exception to the rule (as so often), climbing from 12th on the grid to take a superb victory for Ferrari. Nigel won his world championship title with a second place there in 1992, while Damon Hill took his first win in Hungary the following year, after several near-misses.
In 1998 the Hungaroring was the scene of one of Michael Schumacher's greatest performances. The German superstar went into the weekend trailing McLaren's Mika Hakkinen in the world championship and spent the first part of the race trapped behind his rival and the other McLaren of David Coulthard. Following Ross Brawn's switch onto a three-stop strategy, Schumacher produced a series of blistering laps to make up a seemingly insurmountable deficit and rejoined from his final pitstop in a lead he would not lose. The circuit showcased another great driving performance in 2006, when Jenson Button sealed his long-awaited first victory with a wet-weather masterclass in the Honda. The event has, perhaps surprisingly, rarely been won by the seasonal champion, the last occasion being Michael Schumacher's victory in 2004.
The circuit presents a number of challenges to teams and drivers - the track is seldom used by other series throughout the year and in August is usually very dry and dusty, taking a long time to "rubber-in" as the weekend progresses. Cooling can be an issue, with ambient temperatures averaging 27C and only one long straight to feed the radiators with high-energy air. Finally, the drivers are put to the test both physically and mentally, with few opportunities to relax concentration over a very busy lap, and one of the longest race durations.
The overall finishing rate at the Hungaroring is around the average for this year's circuits.
The likelihood of a driver-related retirement is also average.
Mechanical failures at Budapest are a more likely occurrence than at other current tracks.
Finally, the circuit ranks as about average for first-lap retirements in the past five years.
The Last Five Years
| 2005 | 20 | 14 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 9 - Mark Webber (Williams) |
| 2006 | 22 | 14 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 13 - Jenson Button (Honda) |
| 2007 | 22 | 18 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 - Takuma Sato (Super Aguri) & Sebastian Vettel (Toro Rosso) & Adrian Sutil (Spyker) |
| 2008 | 20 | 18 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 5 - Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber) |
| 2009 | 19 | 16 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 7 - Timo Glock (Toyota) |
| Overall | 103 | 80 | 16 | 9 | 3 |
Circuit Ranking (of all 18 circuits)
Finishing Rate
...
10th Spa 78%
11th Hungaroring 78%
12th Monte Carlo 77%
...
Mechanical Failures
...
4th Montreal 17%
5th Hungaroring 16%
6th= Melbourne 13%
6th= Sepang 13%
...
Driver-related Retirements
...
10th Shanghai 10%
11th Hungaroring 9%
12th Suzuka 8%
...
First lap Retirements
...
7th Sepang 3.8%
8th Hungaroring 2.9%
9th Valencia 2.5%
...
Impressively, this year's grid includes six former Hungarian Grand Prix winners, and three other podium finishers - plus Sebastian Vettel, Felipe Massa, Nico Rosberg and Robert Kubica, who fall into neither category! Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button both recorded their first wins at the circuit, in 2003 and 2006 respectively. Other drivers will take cheer from their previous results; Mark Webber qualified his Jaguar a superb third in 2003, while Pedro de la Rosa was a career-best second behind Button in 2006. Conversely Felipe Massa's best result in Budapest is seventh, and last year a dreadful accident in qualifying approaching Turn 4 brought a premature end to his season. Of the others, Lewis Hamilton has two poles and a fourth in his three starts, while Nico Rosberg qualified fourth in 2007 and has been a consistent scorer.
With four wins in the past five years, and the last three on the bounce, McLaren appear the team to beat at the Hungaroring. While the overall points standings are dominated by McLaren and Ferrari, good results have been reasonably well distributed around the other teams, with wins for Mercedes GP (as Honda) and Renault. In the reliability stakes, Red Bull and sister team Toro Rosso have seen more than their share of reliability gremlins, while Williams have got their cars to the finish on eighteen of the last twenty attempts.
Current Drivers' Records at Hungaroring
| Michael Schumacher | 14 | 12 | 1st (4) | 65 | 4 | 1 | 2.93 |
| Rubens Barrichello | 17 | 12 | 1st (1) | 35 | 3 | 2 | 9.35 |
| Fernando Alonso | 8 | 5 | 1st (1) | 26 | 3 | 0 | 7.38 |
| Lewis Hamilton | 3 | 3 | 1st (2) | 24 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Jenson Button | 10 | 7 | 1st (1) | 20 | 1 | 2 | 11.1 |
| Heikki Kovalainen | 3 | 3 | 1st (1) | 15 | 0 | 0 | 6.33 |
| Timo Glock | 2 | 2 | 2nd (1) | 11 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| Mark Webber | 8 | 7 | 3rd (1) | 11 | 0 | 1 | 9.25 |
| Jarno Trulli | 13 | 10 | 4th (1) | 10 | 4 | 0 | 9.08 |
| Pedro de la Rosa | 5 | 5 | 2nd (1) | 8 | 0 | 0 | 13.4 |
| Nico Rosberg | 4 | 3 | 4th (1) | 7 | 1 | 0 | 10.25 |
| Robert Kubica | 4 | 3 | 5th (1) | 5 | 0 | 0 | 9.5 |
| Felipe Massa | 6 | 5 | 7th (2) | 4 | 2 | 0 | 10 |
| Jaime Alguersuari | 1 | 1 | 15th (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19 |
| Sebastian Vettel | 3 | 1 | 16th (1) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 11 |
| Sebastien Buemi | 1 | 1 | 16th (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| Adrian Sutil | 3 | 1 | 17th (1) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 19.33 |
| Vitantonio Liuzzi | 2 | 0 | Ret | 0 | 1 | 1 | 16.5 |
| Sakon Yamamoto | 2 | 0 | Ret | 0 | 0 | 2 | 21.5 |
| Karun Chandhok | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Lucas di Grassi | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Nico Hulkenberg | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Kamui Kobayashi | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Vitaly Petrov | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Bruno Senna | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Chassis Records at Hungaroring (since 2000)
| McLaren | 20 | 17 | 1st (5) | 98 | 2 | 1 | 5.15 |
| Ferrari | 19 | 18 | 1st (3) | 93 | 2 | 1 | 4.37 |
| Williams | 20 | 18 | 3rd (2) | 39 | 1 | 1 | 8.05 |
| Mercedes GP | 20 | 16 | 1st (1) | 29 | 4 | 0 | 11.8 |
| Renault | 20 | 12 | 1st (1) | 27 | 5 | 3 | 8.95 |
| BMW Sauber | 20 | 15 | 3rd (2) | 19 | 3 | 0 | 10.9 |
| Red Bull | 20 | 12 | 3rd (1) | 13 | 4 | 4 | 10.95 |
| Force India | 20 | 13 | 6th (2) | 2 | 6 | 1 | 15.45 |
| Toro Rosso | 20 | 11 | 11th (1) | 0 | 6 | 2 | 18.25 |
| Hispania | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Lotus | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Virgin | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Results for Renault include Benetton
Results for BMW Sauber include Sauber
Results for Red Bull include Jaguar
Results for Force India include Jordan, Midland and Spyker
Results for Toro Rosso include Minardi
Engine Records at Hungaroring (since 2000)
| Mercedes-Benz | 24 | 20 | 1st (5) | 100 | 3 | 1 | 6.5 |
| Ferrari | 45 | 33 | 1st (3) | 99 | 8 | 5 | 10.16 |
| Renault | 24 | 16 | 1st (1) | 33 | 5 | 3 | 8.58 |
| Cosworth | 26 | 12 | 6th (1) | 3 | 8 | 5 | 14.81 |
Results for Cosworth include Ford
All ranking figures are expressed as a % of total starts.
"Retirements-Acc" are retirements where the reason has been listed as Collision, Accident or Spun Off.
