Traditional Hungarian GP: Safety car runs over Formula 1 drivers!

So-called Formula 1 experts rattle this off without a second thought: the first Hungarian Grand Prix took place in 1986, 40 years ago. Except that’s not true at all. Strictly speaking, this Grand Prix is 50 years older, and it wasn’t held exclusively at the Hungaroring either.

The first Hungarian Grand Prix was actually held in 1936, at Népliget Park in Budapest. Back then, the Silver Arrows (from Mercedes-Benz and Auto-Union) competed against Enzo Ferrari’s Scuderia (with Alfa Romeo racing cars). Tazio Nuvolari won for the Italians.

In 1986, Formula 1 made its debut at the Hungaroring behind what was then the Iron Curtain: more than 220,000 fans from across Eastern Europe flocked to the event, creating a stunning atmosphere.

Martin Brundle, now a Sky pundit, was on the starting grid at the time in a Zakspeed racing car. The Englishman says: “It was quite peculiar; there was a certain tension in the air. But I couldn’t quite put my finger on what it was. It was only later that I realised why the atmosphere was so strange – it was the silence. The spectators knew very little about motorsport or Formula 1 and were simply watching with keen interest to see what was going on. It was very odd, but also fascinating.”

A metal sculpture at the entrance to the Hungaroring still serves as a reminder of a great man: Ferenc Szisz, who, in a Renault 1906, won the first car race to bear the name ‘Grand Prix’ at Le Mans. The scion of the Transylvanian Saxons died in Paris in 1944.

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A curious fact: right up until the 1970s, a lookalike in Hungary posed as Ferenc Szisz and was handsomely paid for his appearances.

In 1995, the Japanese driver Taki Inoue attempted to put out a fire in his stranded Arrows racing car. What happened next was reminiscent of scenes from a slapstick film: the Grand Prix driver was loaded onto the bonnet of a Tatra 623 safety car that had rushed to the scene! Inoue briefly lost consciousness but escaped with only minor bruises to his legs.

It gets even crazier: Inoue had already had an unpleasant encounter with a safety car. The incident occurred when Inoue’s car broke down and had to be towed back to the pit lane. Whilst the recovery vehicle was towing the racing car, a track car driven by rally ace Jean Ragnotti came round the track and crashed straight into the rear of Inoue’s Footwork car!

The impact tore off the racing car’s roll bar, causing Inoue’s car to roll over into the crash barriers. Although his helmet was smashed on impact, Inoue recovered and was declared fit to drive for the race weekend.

Did you know? Only Monza has hosted Formula 1 races for longer without interruption than the Hungaroring. The 2026 race will be the 41st consecutive edition. Racing has taken place without interruption at the Hungaroring since 1986, and at Monza since 1981.

It wasn’t until 1986–2006 that we experienced rain for the first time at a Hungarian Grand Prix. As is often the case in such mixed conditions, Jenson Button shone and won his first World Championship race (back then for BAR-Honda) – and, it should be noted, from 14th on the grid.

Button is not the only Formula 1 star to have claimed his first Grand Prix victory here: the same applies to Damon Hill in 1993 and Fernando Alonso in 2003 (who was the youngest GP winner at the time). Heikki Kovalainen won his only Grand Prix here in 2008, whilst in 2021 the Frenchman Esteban Ocon sensationally claimed his first Formula 1 World Championship race victory with Alpine.

It’s curious what happened before Ocon’s unexpected victory: as the race got underway, the track was drying out; almost all the drivers headed straight for the pit lane after the formation lap, with only one car lining up on the starting grid – Lewis Hamilton in his Mercedes. Nothing like this had ever happened before in the premier class.

Only one Hungarian driver was able to start in his home race: Zsolt Baumgartner, who in 2003 was a reserve driver for Jordan, standing in for the injured Ralph Firman (following a practice accident), and in 2004 was a Grand Prix driver for Minardi. Baumgartner remained connected to the top flight in an unusual way: for years, he drove Paul Stoddart’s popular Formula 1 two-seater.

Since 1988, the Hungarian Grand Prix has had ten different title sponsors: Pop 84 (jeans) from 1988 to 1990, Marlboro cigarettes (1991 to 2005), the banking and insurance company ING (2008/2009), the chemicals group Eni (2010 to 2012), tyre manufacturer Pirelli (2014–2017), watchmaker Rolex (2018/2019), Formula 1 partner Aramco (the world’s largest oil producer) from 2020 to 2022, Qatar Airways in 2023, computer manufacturer Lenovo in 2025, and F1 partner and cloud computing provider AWS in 2026.