Very few countries can claim to have hosted more than 40 consecutive races at the same track and under the same name. The Hungaroring and the Hungarian Grand Prix are among them, and over four decades, they have produced some remarkable statistics. Several of the drivers currently on the starting grid secured their first victory here, and that’s just one of many interesting facts.

Author: Tamás Szikora

Six drivers have celebrated their first Formula 1 victory at the Hungaroring, and three of them have since become world champions. Damon Hill triumphed in 1993 driving for Williams and went on to win the world championship three years later. Fernando Alonso, who competed as a Renault driver in 2003, started from pole position and crossed the finish line first; he then claimed his first world championship title in 2005, followed by another in 2006.

Jenson Button followed a similar path in this regard, though he had to wait quite a while for his first victory. He achieved this in 2006 while driving for Honda; surprisingly, this was the first rain-soaked race at the Hungaroring, and the British driver emerged from the chaos as the clear winner. Three years later, in 2009, Button finally became world champion with Brawn GP; to this day, he remains the last driver to win the world championship two or three years after his victory at the Hungaroring. In 2008, Heikki Kovalainen claimed his first and only F1 victory. In that race, Felipe Massa held a comfortable lead, but a few laps before the checkered flag, his Ferrari suffered a mechanical failure, allowing Kovalainen to inherit the victory.

In 2021, Esteban Ocon won a race that was particularly memorable and full of twists and turns due to the rain—this victory remains his only one to date. Then, in 2024, Oscar Piastri won the Hungarian Grand Prix. That race was no less memorable, as although Piastri was in the lead, McLaren’s strategy left him at a disadvantage compared to his teammate after the pit stops. The team eventually asked Lando Norris to let Piastri back in front of him, but the British driver was only willing to do so a few laps before the end of the race. This created a rather tense situation, but at the same time wrote another memorable chapter in Hungary’s racing history.

The Hungaroring was built in just eight months. Construction officially began in October 1985 and was fully completed by May 1986. This was a record at the time, and the track has undergone several renovations since then. One of the most significant renovations took place in 2003, when the Hungaroring was extended to 4,381 meters; the same track layout has been in use ever since, and major infrastructure improvements were completed this year. The main elements of these improvements were already in place by 2025, but the work was not fully completed until this year.

If we consider only those races that have been held continuously from the very beginning, under the same name, and on a single circuit, the Hungaroring ranks first. Although the Hungarian Grand Prix ranks 11th on the list of the most frequently held races (as of Sunday) with 41 editions, the races ahead of it were often held at different tracks or with breaks in between. The Brazilian Grand Prix, for example, has so far been held at two different tracks and under two different names, but the British and Italian Grand Prix—which have been held every year since 1950—have also been held at multiple tracks. The Hungarian races, however, have always been held at the Mogyoród circuit, and fortunately, not a single year has been missed since 1986.

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This record is also tied to the Hungaroring. Ahead of the 2026 race weekend, Lewis Hamilton has secured pole position a total of nine times in Hungary. Tied for second place in the rankings—each with eight pole positions—are Hamilton in Australia, Michael Schumacher in Japan, and Ayrton Senna at the San Marino Grand Prix. It is not impossible that the record for the most wins at a single track will also be set in Hungary in the future. Hamilton has won here eight times so far; the British seven-time world champion has achieved even greater success at a single venue, having won the British Grand Prix nine times.

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