Hungarian Grand Prix: 6 August

iveco SG

Loaction: Hungaroring, Budapest

Raceday: Sunday, 6 August 2006

Time: 2000 (+6 GMT)

2005 winner: K Raikonnen

Number of laps: 70

Circuit length: 4.381 Km

Click for larger view

Hungary first hosted a grand prix in the 1930s, but following the Second World War and the building of the Iron Curtain it was not until the 1960s that motorsport began to find a place in the country.

At the start of the 1980s there was a general wish for a Grand Prix to be held behind the Iron Curtain and negotiations took place with the Soviet Union with a view to a race being held in Moscow. In the summer of 1983 however, the attention of the Formula One decision makers turned away from Moscow and towards Budapest in Hungary, whose national sporting authority was keen to put the country back on the map of global motorsport.

At first a street race through Budapest was suggested, but in the end the decision was taken to build a brand new circuit in a valley 19 kilometres outside Budapest. The valley provided natural vantage points for spectators and in 1985 work began on the Hungaroring. The track opened in 1986 and it held its first Formula One event in August that year. It was a huge success and almost 200,000 fans showed up.

Although tight and twisty, the circuit has been known to throw up some great races, the most memorable being Thierry Boutsen's win in 1990, beating Ayrton Senna by 0.3 seconds, and of course the 1997 race where Damon Hill in the Arrows sensationally passed Michael Schumacher's Ferrari only to be denied the win by mechanical failure on the very last lap.

The Hungaroring lies some 22km to the north-east of Budapest. Travel from the city and its Ferihegy International airport is easy using the E71/M3 roads in the direction of Miskolc.

The circuit is on the border of the small village of Mogyorod, which is a half-hour local train ride from Budapest.

SBS9828X SG

1. RAIKKONEN McLaren
2. MASSA Ferrari
3. BARRICHELLO Honda
4. DE LA ROSA McLaren
5. WEBBER Williams
6. R.SCHUMACHER Toyota
7. FISICHELLA Renault
8. TRULLI Toyota
9. KUBICA BMW
10. HEIDFELD BMW
11. M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari*
12. COULTHARD Red Bull
13. KLIEN Red Bull
14. BUTTON Honda**
15. ALONSO Renault*
16. MONTEIRO Midland
17. LIUZZI Toro Rosso
18. ROSBERG Williams
19. SPEED Toro Rosso
20. SATO Super Aguri
21. YAMAMOTO Super Aguri
22. ALBERS Midland**

* 2s time penalty applied

** engine penalty applied

finoq SG

That was the most exciting and eventful race I’ve seen these few years.

[email protected] SG

damn awesome!

way to go jense, way to go pedro, way to go nick, n way to go kubica!

idiots of the day: tonto for suddenly slowing and causing an avoidable accident, scot speed for getting onto dries too early and michael for being a RIGHT CU*T and getting his just deserts Laughing

finoq SG

haha Michael should have just gave way or changed tyres but no, he wanted to defend till the end, and in the end he got nothing

[email protected] SG

he deserves it. I was hoping he wouldn't take the sensible option. I knew he wouldn't too. And I was right! Seems his brain shorted out today. Laughing

finoq SG

i think it's his character. He always seems to be doing that Laughing

Kuali Baba SG

It's not quite up there with Suzuka 2005 IMO. But an excellent race by this season's standards. And just look at the stats:

First wet Grand Prix in Hungary

First win for Jenson Button and Honda

First podium for BMW and Pedro De La Rosa

First points for Robert Kubica on his debut in a tricky race

First DNF for Alonso this season

First double DNF for Renault this season

First win by a British driver since David Coulthard at Australia 2003

First win by an English driver since Damon Hill at Belgium 1998

Amazing, really...

iveco SG

Wow, what a lot of firsts we have there. Anyway, here are the statistics:

Pos No Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid Points

1 12 Jenson Button Honda 70 1:52:20.941 14 10

2 4 Pedro de la Rosa McLaren-Mercedes 70 +30.8 secs 4 8

3 16 Nick Heidfeld Sauber-BMW 70 +43.8 secs 10 6

4 11 Rubens Barrichello Honda 70 +45.2 secs 3 5

5 14 David Coulthard RBR-Ferrari 69 +1 Lap 12 4

6 7 Ralf Schumacher Toyota 69 +1 Lap 6 3

7 6 Felipe Massa Ferrari 69 +1 Lap 2 2

8 5 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 67 Track rod 11 1

9 18 Tiago Monteiro MF1-Toyota 67 +3 Laps 16

10 19 Christijan Albers MF1-Toyota 67 +3 Laps 22

11 21 Scott Speed STR-Cosworth 66 +4 Laps 20

12 8 Jarno Trulli Toyota 65 Engine 8

13 22 Takuma Sato Super Aguri-Honda 65 +5 Laps 19

Ret 1 Fernando Alonso Renault 51 Mechanical 15

Ret 3 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 25 Accident 1

Ret 20 Vitantonio Liuzzi STR-Cosworth 25 Accident 17

Ret 10 Nico Rosberg Williams-Cosworth 19 Electrical 18

Ret 2 Giancarlo Fisichella Renault 18 Spin 7

Ret 15 Christian Klien RBR-Ferrari 6 Spin 13

Ret 9 Mark Webber Williams-Cosworth 1 Accident 5

Ret 23 Sakon Yamamoto Super Aguri-Honda 0 Engine 21

DSQ 17 Robert Kubica Sauber-BMW 69 +1 Lap 9

Drivers' standings:

Pos Driver Nationality Team Points

1 Fernando Alonso Spanish Renault 100

2 Michael Schumacher German Ferrari 90

3 Felipe Massa Brazilian Ferrari 52

4 Giancarlo Fisichella Italian Renault 49

4= Kimi Räikkönen Finnish McLaren-Mercedes 49

6 Jenson Button British Honda 31

7 Juan Pablo Montoya Colombian McLaren-Mercedes 26

8 Rubens Barrichello Brazilian Honda 21

9 Nick Heidfeld German Sauber-BMW 19

10 Ralf Schumacher German Toyota 16

11 David Coulthard British RBR-Ferrari 14

12 Pedro de la Rosa Spanish McLaren-Mercedes 10

12= Jarno Trulli Italian Toyota 10

14 Jacques Villeneuve Canadian Sauber-BMW 7

15 Mark Webber Australian Williams-Cosworth 6

16 Nico Rosberg German Williams-Cosworth 4

17 Christian Klien Austrian RBR-Ferrari 2

18 Vitantonio Liuzzi Italian STR-Cosworth 1

Constructors' standings:

Pos Constructor Points

1 Renault 149

2 Ferrari 142

3 McLaren-Mercedes 85

4 Honda 52

5 Toyota 26

5= Sauber-BMW 26

7 RBR-Ferrari 16

8 Williams-Cosworth 10

9 STR-Cosworth 1

SBS9828X SG

kudos to button… however kubica was found to be underweight aafter the race and was DQed

Gazelle SG

Luizzi idiot? Kimi has himself to blame too.

http://www.f1racing.net/en/news.php?newsID=126758

Kimi Raikkonen put his collision with Tonio Liuzzi down to a 'racing incident' after he tripped over the Toro Rosso while trying to lap Liuzzi.

"I think it was a normal racing incident, unlucky on both sides," Raikkonen said. "I think Liuzzi wanted to let me past but I wasn't expecting him to slow down there. I was also still looking at de la Rosa behind me too to let him come through too so a lot going on at the same time."

Liuzzi went over to the McLaren motorhome to have a word with Raikkonen, but the Finn insisted it was all calm and that they are all still friends.

Gazelle SG

Kimi had gone through the same gamble last year when he had that flat spotted tyres. So I guess Kimi must be an idiot too huh?

sand king SG

i think they should have just changed the damned tires ealyer

Gazelle SG

It is always easy to comment after what has happened. Personally I believe their tyre gamble was a calculated risk and it is just unfortunate that something else give way first

sand king SG

haha yeh i know. but thumbs up for Michael, so old but still kicking haha

SBS9828X SG

he seems not going to retire this yr… how i wish for more wet races