History of the Hungaroring

History:

1985 -  In the mid 1980`s Bernie Ecclestone, president of FOA (earlier FOCA) perceived a need to possibly expand the Formula One World championship behind the still existing "Iron Curtain". China, The Soviet Union and later Yugoslavia were all contenders in the plans, but eventually his friend Thomas Rohonyi turned his attention to Hungary. Having had the idea and after a quick visit, the decision was made to build a track in either the capital Budapest or the neighbouring Mogyor�d. The circuit was completed in near record time, taking just 8 months. The contract was signed on 10th September 1985, the construction started on 1st October. 1986 -  Hungaroring`s inaugural event, the Drapal Memorial Race, was organised for the 24th of March 1986. The first Formula One World Championship event was held on the 10th of August 1986.

---

The Hungaroring is one of the most controversial venues on the formula one calendar. While it did bring major auto racing behind the Iron curtain the racetrack itself was built as one of the slowest on the Formula One calendar besides Monaco.

While the circuit design makes for tremendous spectator possibilities, Istvan Papp's layout was slow and limited overtaking possibilities, unless your name was Senna, Mansell, or Piquet, who marvelled the Hungarians in the mid to late 80's with their speed and aggressive driving.

The Hungaroring was built in the Mid-80's as Bernie Ecclestone wanted to bring F1 behind the Iron curtain and into the communist world. The track was designed in 1985, and was built in just seven months before opening in June of 1986. F1 came to the track 12 miles outside of Budapest in August of 1986, in an entertaining race that saw Nelson Piquet and Ayrton Senna exchange track position with Piquet winning in his Williams.

The original track had a really slow first section with a hairpin, followed by some really tight, winding chicane esses that led onto an uphill straight and into a lighting-quick left hander. This led into a slow back section that included a series of slow to medium speed turns that led into a mini-straight that led into a pair of quasi-hairpins and back onto the front straight. The first race had a remarkable slow average speed, only 151 km/h by the winner, in a race that took over two hours.

The chicane that made the esses in the first section was removed in 1989, and the most recognized layout was created, a layout that saw Michael Schumacher win three times, Mika Hakkinen, Jacques Villeneuve, Damon Hill, and Ayrton Senna win twice, all in top class cars. The circuit benefits track position, pit strategy, and high downforce. The increased turbulence created by the high downforce, coupled with the lack of overtaking possibilities made the Hungaroring one of the worst tracks for television spectators, despite it's great in person ambiance.

In 2003 changes were made to the track layout in order to increase overtaking, however that phenomenon has failed to materialize except for Ralf Schumacher's rise from last after the first lap to fourth in 2003. However the Hungaroring appears to have a long-term future in f1, as sponsorship money continues to flow into the Hungarian GP, and tourists still come from other European countries, depending on who is excelling at the time.

Full article at Formula 1 Database

Circuit type	Race
Capacity	120,000
First Race Held	1986
Time zone	GMT +1
Designer	Istvan Papp
Circuit length	4.381 km (2.722 mi)
Race length	306.630 km (190.531 mi)
Number of laps	70
Circuit Turns	16
Circuit Direction	Clockwise
Number of races held	24
Lap record	1:19.071 (Michael Schumacher, 2004)