Old Circuits
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The Hungaroring is built 12 miles north east of Budapest, and is set in a natural Amphitheatre, as the track starts on one side, goes down into a valley before going down the far side, then turning and coming back in the opposite direction. Overtaking is virtually impossible here, as the track is narrow, with many slow corners. 1986 saw Nelson Piquet win the inaugural race after beating archrival, Ayrton Senna, in a close battle. He won again the following year, after Nigel Mansell was forced to forfeit the victory due to a loose wheel nut, with only six laps remaining. Damon Hill won his first Grand Prix victory here in 1993, and in 1994, Michael Schumacher raced his Benetton to the win for the teams' maiden Hungaroring victory. Damon Hill won again in 1995, and came second the next year, behind Williams team-mate Jacques Villeneuve. In 1997, Damon almost achieved the impossible, bringing his little fancied Arrows to within a lap of victory, before having to slow with a throttle failure and gifting the win to Villeneuve. Michael |
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Schumacher won for Ferrari in 1998. However, the following two events, 1999 and 2000, were both mastered by
McLaren driver, Mika Hakkinen. Ferrari secured the next two years with Michael Schumacher and Rubens
Barrichello respectively.
Spain's Fernando Alonso made history by winning the 2003 race, becoming the youngest ever winner of a Formula One world championship race. The 22-year-old Spaniard led from start to finish winning by 17 seconds from Kimi Raikkonen. Michael Schumacher was back to his winning ways as Bridgestone pulled out all the stops and brought a new compound of tyre to the twisty Hungarian track in 2004. Stung by their performance the previous year, the Bridgestone-Schumacher-Ferrari combination dominated in 2004 with Schumacher beating team-mate Barrichello by five seconds and 2003 winner Alonso consigned to the third position. Kimi Raikkonen romped home to a dominant win over Michael Schumacher in 2005 while his championship rival Fernando Alonso made an uncharacteristic mistake and would battle to finish out of the points in 11th position. |
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