from ITV F1 * Hungarian motor racing can be traced back to the 1930s, when races were staged in a park in the middle of Budapest. The only pre-war Hungarian Grand Prix was held in 1936 and won by Tazio Nuvolari in an Alfa Romeo. * Exactly 50 years elapsed before the next Hungarian GP, when Formula 1 ventured behind the Iron Curtain for the first world championship race in an Eastern Bloc country. * The novelty value and subsidised admission costs helped attract an enormous crowd of almost 200,000 for the historic 1986 event. It was a massive vote of confidence in Bernie Ecclestones trail-blazing vision of spreading F1s appeal into the communist bloc. * The site was a new purpose-built circuit in open countryside 12 miles north-east of Budapest, named the Hungaroring. The project cost approximately £5 million and was underwritten by a consortium of large local companies and an interest-free loan from the State Development Bank. * The circuits situation in a natural bowl affords superb viewing opportunities for spectators. However, they dont often get to see much action because the sinuous layout sometimes described as Monaco without the houses militates against overtaking and tends to produce processional races. * Attempts to cure the overtaking problems were made for the 2003 race. Changes to the track included the extension of the start/finish straight, making the first corner sharper to give at least one good overtaking spot. * The Hungaroring is the second slowest circuit on the calendar after Monte Carlo. The designers had originally intended to incorporate some more inspiring fast corners but their plans were foiled by the discovery of an underground spring. * The 1986 race was won by Nelson Piquet after a titanic battle with fellow Brazilian Ayrton Senna. Piquet sealed the victory with an audacious and skilful piece of overtaking around the outside of Senna at the first corner, which saw him hold a lurid oversteering slide all the way through. * Piquet won again the following year, this time in fortuitous fashion. Team-mate Nigel Mansell dominated the race until a wheel nut worked its way adrift of his Williams-Honda, effectively ending his world championship hopes. * Mansell took one of his most accomplished victories at the Hungaroring in 1989, scything through from 12th on the grid in his Ferrari. He took the lead with a brilliantly opportunistic move in which he boxed Senna in behind the slower car of Stefan Johansson. * By contrast, Thierry Boutsens win in 1990 was a textbook illustration of the difficulty of passing at the Hungaroring. The Belgian Williams driver held a queue of faster cars at bay for the entire race distance, beating Senna to the line by just 0.3s. * Senna won the Hungarian GP three times in 1988, 1991 and 1992. The most prolific winner is Michael Schumacher, who triumphed in 1994, 1998, 2001 and 2004. * However, unusually for Schumacher, he had almost double as many poles as wins in the event, seven to four. * Williams is the most successful team in Budapest having won on seven occasions. However the last of these was a decade ago. * Three drivers scored their maiden grand prix victories in Hungary Damon Hill in 1993, Fernando Alonso a decade later and then Jenson Button last year. Alonso became the youngest ever grand prix winner at 22 years and 26 days of age, finally eclipsing Bruce McLarens record, which had stood for 43 years. * Hill almost pulled off the upset of the decade in 1997 when he came within an ace of winning for the unfancied Arrows team. The summer heat suited the cars Bridgestone tyres to perfection, and Hill dominated the race until succumbing to a hydraulic problem and handing victory to Jacques Villeneuve. * Villeneuve's fortunate '97 win followed the victory he secured in his debut year for Williams 12 months before. His good run continued with third in '98...however he failed to trouble the scorers in his subsequent six attempts. * Arguably the most impressive performance in the race's 21-year history came from Michael Schumacher in 1998. Running third behind the McLarens of David Coulthard and title rival Mika Hakkinen and with seemingly no chance of winning, master strategist Ross Brawn switched the Ferrari star from a two-stop to a three-stop strategy. All the German had to do was find a bundle of time in under 20 laps to get in front! Amazingly he did, despite a slight off at the final turn, to take not just one of the best wins of his career, but one of the greatest F1 victories of all time. * On two occasions drivers have sewn up the world championship at the Hungarian GP (which, as the race is held in August, indicates how dominant they were in those seasons). Nigel Mansell achieved the feat in 1992, while Michael Schumacher clinched his fourth title there in 2001. * The 2003 podium was the youngest in F1 history with the three drivers' average age just 24 years, seven months and 12 days. Winner Alonso was 22, runner-up Kimi Raikkonen 23 and third-place finisher Juan Pablo Montoya 27. * Michael Schumacher took his only pole of 2005 in Hungary, but was beaten in the race by Raikkonen in the McLaren. Ralf Schumacher scored his first podium finish for Toyota with third. * Last year Hungary shrugged off its status as one of the least exciting races on the calendar by serving up the most exciting race of the season - although it largely had the rain to thank for that! Jenson Button was the main beneficiary of that as he sliced his way through the field from 14th on the grid to take an extraordinary maiden F1 victory at the 113th attempt. * The Briton's win also marked Honda's first in the sport as a constructor since 1967. * The 2006 podium saw a trio of 'firsts': Button's first win, Pedro de la Rosa's first podium and BMW's first podium courtesy of Nick Heidfeld. * Michael Schumacher holds the lap record his all-conquering Ferrari clocking 1m19.071s in 2004.
