Five unforgettable Hungarian Grand Prix moments including Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton’s controversial spat

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The Hungarian Grand Prix made Formula 1 history from its first race and continues to witness more, so here are five of its most unforgettable moments and iconic editions.

Holding a Grand Prix behind the Iron Curtain was a long-held dream for Formula 1 amid the early 1980s. Bernie Ecclestone continually pushed the subject and longed to stage a race in Russia. But the Hungarian GP would become F1’s first race behind the Irons Curtain in 1986.

Russia resisted Ecclestone’s preference for a Grand Prix in Moscow that passed through the Red Square. But Hungary was already looking beyond life under communist control and the country welcomed Formula 1 with open arms when the chance to stage a Grand Prix arose.

Unforgettable moments have since continually unfolded around the tight and twisty track in Mogyorod, a village around 15 miles outside of Budapest, including from the first Hungarian GP. So, with that in mind, F1 Oversteer looks at five of the best Hungarian GP moments yet…

Nelson Piquet produced an overtaking masterclass at the first Hungarian GP in 1986

F1 could thank Nelson Piquet Sr for ensuring its debut race held behind the Iron Curtain was an instant success with the Hungarian Grand Prix of 1986. The three-time drivers’ champion produced an overtaking masterclass at the Hungaroring to win by 17.673s to Ayrton Senna.

Senna had beaten his compatriot and great rival to pole position by 0.335 seconds. Piquet Sr even fell behind his Williams teammate Nigel Mansell at the start as the Briton shot up from fourth to second. Yet it did not take the Rio de Janeiro native long to be back on Senna’s tail.

An audacious dive into Turn 1 on the 12th lap of the 1986 Hungarian GP then saw Piquet Sr steal the lead from Senna. But the Lotus star went long on his initial tyres to regain the lead come the pit stop phase. This time, it took Piquet Sr to L55 to make a telling pass on Senna.

But Senna did not yield as Piquet Sr took the Brazilian pair wide at T1 and kept hold of the lead. It was just a delay in proceedings, however, as Piquet Sr made a move stick on Lap 57 as the 23-time Grand Prix winner flung his FW11 around Senna’s outside, even with a drift.

Nigel Mansell charged from 12th on the grid to win the 1989 Hungarian Grand Prix

The Hungaroring proved to be a happy hunting ground for Brazilians in F1’s early visits with Piquet Sr winning again in 1987 before Senna had his day in 1988. But Mansell put on a real show in 1989 as the Ferrari driver became the first European to win a Hungarian Grand Prix.

Qualifying was a disaster for Mansell as the Briton ended the session down in P12 and 2.225 seconds off Riccardo Patrese’s pole position time. Yet a superb start moved Mansell into P8 by the first corner before he dispatched Alessandro Nannini, Thierry Boutsen and Alex Caffi.

Mansell still faced a 17-second deficit to the leaders as he moved into fifth place. But there was no stopping the Ferrari pilot after the Scuderia tweaked his front wing for the morning warm-up to dial out Mansell’s understeer. Issues for Alain Prost and Patrese also helped out.

But Patrese bowing out due to his engine overheating gave Senna the lead of the Hungarian GP, not Mansell. It set up a thrilling chase that Stefan Johansson found the Onyx backmarker engulfed in as Senna had to slow into Turn 3 but Mansell did not lift to even run three-wide.

Senna could not avoid losing time behind Johansson to invite Mansell to make his move for the lead of the Hungarian GP. But it was likely inevitable that the McLaren driver would not hold on as Mansell, who started on the sixth row of the grid, went on to win by 26 seconds.

Jenson Button won his first Formula 1 race at the 2006 Hungarian GP

Formula 1 has witnessed several first-time Grand Prix winners at the Hungarian GP including Damon Hill in 1993, Fernando Alonso in 2003 and Esteban Ocon in 2021. But questions sat if Jenson Button would ever win a race before the Briton topped the podium at the 2006 meet.

Button enjoyed his long-overdue first victory whilst driving for Honda, despite starting in P14 after a penalty for changing his engine. A mixture of wet conditions and a safety car saw F1’s would-be 2009 drivers’ champion charge through to prove all of his lasting doubters wrong.

The 2006 edition was the first wet Hungarian Grand Prix as rain hit near Budapest ahead of racing getting underway. Intermediate tyres even helped Michael Schumacher go from P11 to P6 at the first corner as Alonso even gained places from his lowly spot of P15 on the grid.

Schumacher could not maintain his rise, however, as the Bridgestone tyres did not respond well to the conditions. Contact with Giancarlo Fisichella even saw the German sustain front wing damage before Button breezed past the pair and Felipe Massa across a mere two laps.

Yet Alonso was making the most progress as his Renault adored the conditions to run three seconds a lap faster than his rivals at points. But after Kimi Raikkonen crashed to ruin a likely race win, Alonso hit problems with 20 laps to go when his wheel nut flew off after a pit stop.

The Spaniard’s disaster was to Button’s benefit as the Briton swept into the lead with Alonso retiring entering the final laps. No driver would get close to Button, either, as he went on to win at the 113th attempt by 31 seconds to Pedro de la Rosa as a stand-in driver for McLaren.

Fernando Alonso controversially denied Lewis Hamilton pole at the 2007 Hungarian GP

The 2007 Formula 1 season saw McLaren get Alonso from Renault after beating Schumacher to back-to-back drivers’ titles. But the Spaniard would not emerge as the clear No1 driver in Woking as a rookie Lewis Hamilton burst onto the Grand Prix scene to leave Alonso irritated.

Tensions in the McLaren garage also reached boiling point at the Hungarian GP when Alonso felt a sense of injustice against Hamilton. The Spaniard took great issue with McLaren giving him a set of tyres to start qualifying on which Alonso believed were already past their best.

READ MORE: The five worst moments of Lewis Hamilton’s career in Formula 1

So irate was Alonso with how he felt qualifying was playing out that he sat in McLaren’s box when the team double-stacked their drivers mid-session. He doggedly ignored their pleas to pull away as Hamilton waited to be serviced knowing the session’s clock was ticking down.

Ultimately, Alonso’s antics cost Hamilton his chance to try and go faster than his provisional pole time. But his new tyres let Alonso improve to go P1 by just 0.107 seconds to the Briton. Yet the stewards handed the Spaniard a five-place grid penalty over his intentional blocking.

Hamilton adopted pole position as a result of Alonso’s penalty and went on to give McLaren the win at the 2007 Hungarian GP. The Briton held off Kimi Raikkonen to win by only 0.715s after a race-long fight. Alonso could only recover from his P5 starting spot to finish in fourth.

Daniel Ricciardo picked up the pieces from Mercedes’ misery at the 2014 Hungarian GP

Formula 1 introduced turbo-hybrid power units for the 2014 season and Mercedes were the class of the field. The Silver Arrows’ engine won all but three of the year’s 19 races as Daniel Ricciardo picked up the pieces for the Canadian GP, the Hungarian GP and the Belgian GP.

A race win did not look on the cards for Ricciardo as the Australian slipped back from fourth to sixth at the start, though. Yet Marcus Ericsson came to his rescue as the Swede crashed his Caterham on Lap 7 to trigger a safety car too late for the leading four to hit the pit lane.

Red Bull utilised the safety car to pit Ricciardo for slick tyres after starting on intermediates. A second safety car as Sergio Perez crashed his Force India into the pit wall on Lap 22 also offered Red Bull another chance to pit Ricciardo for a set of soft tyres but a win was unlikely.

Ricciardo was the underdog against Mercedes pair Hamilton and Nico Rosberg plus Alonso in his Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel in the sister Red Bull. The Perth native even had an engine sensor warning but kept pushing and piled on the pressure after one final pit stop on Lap 54.

Only Alonso and Hamilton ran ahead of Ricciardo entering the final stages as Rosberg boxed for tyres. But the Briton could not hold the Australian back around the outside at Turn 3 for the inside line out of T4. Ricciardo then delivered a trademark divebomb on Alonso into T1.

The late move to snatch the inside of Turn 1 proved crucial as Ricciardo took the lead of the 2014 Hungarian GP. Yet the win was still not in the bag as Rosberg closed on the leading trio after a late pit stop. But Hamilton ignored Mercedes’ team order to let the German through.

Rosberg had the pace to catch Ricciardo and give Mercedes another win. But Hamilton was not in the mood to do any favours amid their title fight. It proved to be the right call, too, as Rosberg did not overtake Hamilton – who made the podium after starting from the pit lane.