The first Grand Prix race in Hungary was held in Budapest in 1936. Tazio Nuvolari won the race driving the Scuderia Ferrari Alfa Romeo. Although it was a roaring success - over 100,000 attended - political change and the onset of war meant and end to racing until Formula One returned in 1986.
Formula One returned in 1986. It was the first major auto race behind the Iron Curtain. A huge crowd of over 200,000 welcomed the F-1 race to the Hungaroring, outside of Budapest. Nelson Piquet would win after executing a bold overtaking move around the outside of copatriot Ayrton Senna at the first corner.
The Hungaroring gained a reputation for being a tight and twisty track on which it was difficult to pass - in that respect, it earned comparisons to Monaco. Nevertheless, there have been some epic races there over the years. In 1989, Nigel Mansell started from 12th on the grid, after electing to concentrate on his Ferrari's race set-up, rather than qualifying set-up. He stormed through the field, and gained the lead from Ayrton Senna in a famous move as the Brazilian momentarily hesitated when lapping the Onyx car of Stefan Johansson.
In 1990, Thierry Boutsen held off a hard charging Senna to win
Ayrton Senna would win the race in 1992, but Nigel Mansell, who came home second, celebrated by wrapping up the 1992 World Championship in record time.
In the 1997 race, Micheal Schumacher got a tremendous start, but it would be of no avail, as Jacques Villeneuve would win with Damon Hill 2nd and Johnny Herbert 3rd. Schumacher would finish off the podium in 4th. Damon Hill almost took the win - which would have been Arrows first - but a technical problem on the penultimate lap relegated him from a large lead to second place.
The 2006 race was wet/dry. Fernando Alonso drove perhaps the single greatest lap in motor racing history, going from 15th to 6th on the first lap. He would later retire from the race and through the chaos, Jenson Button would claim his first and so far only Formula 1 victory.
The 2007 event was controversial - following a mix-up in the pit lane, Lewis Hamilton was blocked by team mate Alonso. The Stewards penalised Alonso, demoting him from pole to 6th on the grid, and McLaren were also docked their Constructor's points for the race. Lewis Hamilton would win the race, but had to hold off a hard-charging Kimi Raikkonen in the closing laps (Raikkonen set fastest lap of the race on the final lap).
