The thirteenth Hungarian Grand Prix of the season is held this weekend at the Hungaroring on the outskirts of Budapest, a true classic of the Formula 1 World Championship. Yet it was a revolution in 1986 when the former Communist bloc became the first to host a first-class race on the circuit’s doorstep.
Formula 1 beyond the Iron Curtain? On August 10, a few years before the Budapest track opened its gates, the event was the eleventh of that year’s 16 races and hardly a given. Still, there was little that seemed impossible to Bernie Ecclestone, the visionary who built and developed this massive sports spectacle from a multi million dollar business. It belonged to him for decades.
Long before globalization was a buzzword, the former British driver, team manager, and businessman was ahead of his time by pushing F1 into the formerly closed territories of the Warsaw Pact nations. Negotiations began in 1955 in Warsaw, a response to NATO which had formed seven years earlier.
History soon moved quickly. Three years later the Berlin Wall would fall, marking the start of the collapse of the Eastern bloc. Hungary, once a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire with its capitals Vienna and Budapest linked by the mighty Danube, had always stood closest in relationship to the former communist nations. It would come to be regarded as Western aligned in spirit, yet the arrival of F1 in Hungary—after a period of intense political pressure—was a bold surprise for the day.
Years later, the World Cup expanded with new venues across the globe, including China in 2004 where the race had grown popular in Shanghai, and in 2014 Russia joined the calendar during the Sochi Olympics era. The reach of F1 spread to a broader audience while the sport’s roots in the United States remained a preferred long-term goal for many teams and promoters.
The pairing of the sickle and hammer to one of capitalism’s most iconic sports symbols, F1, was unexpected when it was announced that the Hungaroring would host a World Championship event. Since that time, the circuit has become a staple, and this weekend Hungary hosts the thirty-seventh Grand Prix.
Nelson Piquet, father of the former F1 driver known as Nelsinho and the winner of Formula E, first handed the Hungarian Grand Prix to the sport. Today, family ties still appear in the paddock as media figures and current champions appear on the circuit.
The first Hungarian victory in 1986 went to Piquet, ahead of a trio of Brazilian legends, including Ayrton Senna, and the British driver Nigel Mansell who would crown the year with success despite a challenging season. The original Hungaroring length measured 4,014 meters, a distance later extended to 4,381 meters, a change that shifted some lap dynamics and strategy. Alain Prost, aiming to defend his title that year and ultimately achieving his second of four world championships, had a notable accident that left him out of contention late in the race.
Ayrton Senna would eventually ascend to dominance in the early 1990s as the sport grew, with Piquet repeating his 1986 victory the following year. The year 1992 saw Senna prevailing in a memorable season, while other champions—like Damon Hill, Jacques Villeneuve, Mika Hakkinen, and Sebastian Vettel—also added wins at Hungary to their lists.
Senna was later surpassed by Michael Schumacher, who captured his fourth Hungaroring victory in 2004, a year that underscored the event’s enduring appeal. The circuit, with its distinctive layout, has held a special place in the sport, and the presence of champions who have become legends in the sport only adds to the track’s celebrated status.
Two decades ago, Hungary also witnessed Fernando Alonso, the double world champion from Spain, claim a landmark victory in the 2003 season, becoming the youngest winner in F1 history at that time and ushering in a new era of Spanish success in the pinnacle category of motorsport. In more recent years, drivers such as Max Verstappen have continued the legacy, with Verstappen and his Red Bull team taking leading positions and steering the championship through a period of intense competition.
Across the years, the Hungaroring has served as a proving ground for drivers from many nations, and its role in the sport’s evolving calendar remains a testament to Formula 1’s global growth. The circuit’s reputation as a demanding, technical track continues to attract top-level competition, while the story of Hungary’s involvement in the World Championship reflects the broader arc of the sport’s expansion beyond its European hearth. The Grand Prix weekend carries with it a sense of history, achievement, and the ongoing pursuit of speed and precision that defines Formula 1 at every turn.