The Cold War Gamble That Created One of F1’s Most Enduring Races
Formula 1 often prides itself on its truly global nature. While the series’ origins stem from the old pre-World War II European Grand Prix championship and therefore initially featured a calendar that primarily consisted of European races, it didn’t take too long until the category began to truly live up to its “World Championship” moniker. Indeed, as time has gone on the sport has only become more global, with the current calendar featuring races in 21 countries spread across six continents. The original 1950 line-up of 7 races almost entirely based in Europe seems almost quaint in comparison.
That process of expansion to become a truly global series has faced numerous barriers over the sport’s near-75-year history though. Perhaps the most significant among these was the fact that Formula 1 as a sport came into existence at the height of the Cold War, where much of the world found itself divided onto opposing sides of an ideological conflict between the capitalist United States and the communist Soviet Union.
Prior to these wars, motorsport had been growing at a steady pace across Europe. The typically richer nations on the western half of the continent such as France and Italy experienced somewhat quicker growth, but eastern nations too played notable roles in motorsport’s developmental years.
As early as 1913 Russia held a grand prix motor race with a pair of events in Saint Petersburg, though this was brought to an end by the First World War. Eastern Europe also contributed notable drivers to motorsport’s early years, with the very first motor race to be officially designated a ‘Grand Prix’ being won by Hungarian Ferenc Szisz when he took the chequered flag at the 1906 French Grand Prix.
The First World War disrupted the momentum of motorsport across the world, including in Eastern Europe, but even a conflict of that scale could not fully stop the growing enthusiasm for motor racing across the continent. The interwar years saw grands prix springing up in Czechoslovakia and Romania, and Hungary getting its own race in 1936 which was won by the legendary Tazio Nuvolari. It seemed only a matter of time before the eastern part of the continent would become just as central to European motorsport as the west.
Sadly, while the First World War failed to bring an end to the burgeoning Eastern European involvement in the global motorsport scene, the same could not be said for the Second World War and the subsequent Cold War.
The ideological divide between capitalism and communism which ensued effectively split Europe in two, with the divide between the capitalist west and communist eastern halves of the continent famously being dubbed “the Iron Curtain”.
With motorsport’s traditional heartland being in the capitalist-aligned western half of the continent, and motorsport being considered in many ways emblematic of capitalist excesses, countries on the Soviet side of the Iron Curtain found themselves largely frozen out of the top-level motorsport scene for much of the remainder of the 20th century. This included the new Formula 1 World Championship which was inaugurated in 1950, which solely featured Western European nations on its calendar, along with the Indianapolis 500 in the US.
Some lower-category races did begin taking place in Eastern Bloc countries by the 1960s — notably including the rounds of the 1963 and 1964 European Touring Car Challenge. These events showed that interest in motorsport in Eastern Europe was not totally dead, but more would be needed to really capture the public imagination. As it turned out, it would take another 20 years for the top level of international motorsport to begin looking east again.
By the 1980s the Cold War had entered a calmer phase, and with that cooling of tempers came a mutual interest from both east and west about the possibility of bringing international motorsport to the Eastern Bloc. Naturally, the possibility of hosting Formula One generated the most interest, with the series growing rapidly in popularity and professionalism in the 80s, and already being recognised as the pinnacle of motor racing by many.
Crucially, this interest in a race behind the Iron Curtain was shared by none other than Bernie Ecclestone — the increasingly powerful boss of the Formula One Constructor’s Association.
At the time, the Formula One Constructor’s Association held the commercial rights to Formula 1, and were responsible for organising television broadcasts and deals with race organisers. In this capacity, Ecclestone was always looking for dramatic new ways to promote the sport, and in his view the possibility of transcending the boundaries of the Iron Curtain was a major PR coup waiting to happen, and the ultimate expression of the meteoric growth that Formula 1 was enjoying at the time.
Several countries in the soviet sphere made their interest in hosting a race known, with the glamour of Formula 1 being seen as a valuable tool for the Eastern Bloc countries to reinvent their image. Ecclestone’s initial hopes were for a grand prix in Moscow, with the prospect of a race in the very heart of the Soviet Union appealing to Bernie’s flair for the spectacular.
When this plan proved unfeasible however, Ecclestone threw his backing behind a proposal from the Hungarian Automobile Federation, who were clearly extremely eager to get a place of their own on the F1 calendar. The move was undeniably a gamble, as it was still unknown how large of an audience there was for motorsport in the Eastern Bloc, but Ecclestone was committed.
Just how serious the plans for a Hungarian race were became apparent when the provisional calendar for the 1984 Formula 1 season was released. Outlined within was a plan to hold a race around Budapest’s Népliget Park at the beginning of October, where it would comprise the penultimate round of the season. The circuit had pedigree, having hosted the nation’s sole previous grand prix in 1936 along with several lower category races, but it would require substantial modifications to adequately house the high-power turbocharged F1 cars of the day.
These plans for Formula 1’s first race behind the Iron Curtain inspired a great deal of excited speculation in the motorsport media, which was perhaps best summed up by an April Fools’ article by the venerable Denis Jenkinson in a 1984 issue of Motor Sport Magazine.
Therein, Jenkinson concocted an entirely fictional yet surprisingly detailed story of a non-championship grand prix at an undisclosed location in the Eastern Bloc, which ostensibly took place before the start of the actual 1984 season. I think it’s fair to say that the excitement around the proposed Hungarian event may have provided some inspiration for Jenkinson’s fanciful story.
As it turned out though, that joke race report would prove to be the only coverage of an F1 race behind the Iron Curtain in 1984. The hoped-for Népliget Park race never materialised as it became increasingly apparent that its initial inclusion on the provisional calendar had been rather optimistic given the short time frame. Instead, its place on the calendar was taken by a second German race around the newly built Nürburgring GP-Strecke, which filled the role of the European Grand Prix and was eventually won by the McLaren of Alain Prost.
Despite the setback, motivation for an Eastern Bloc race remained high, and Hungary remained the preferred location. Talks were floated about hosting a race there in 1985 after the disappointment of the year prior, with the Népliget Park circuit again being the intended venue. However, it was eventually determined that with Formula 1 cars growing in power year-by-year, a dedicated new circuit capable of safely containing such beasts would be a better option, with the intention being to host a race in 1986 instead.
Just how committed the Hungarian Automobile Federation was to their dream of being the first grand prix behind the Iron Curtain became clear during the construction of the new track. Work on the circuit began just outside Budapest in October 1985, and after a mere 8 months of work it was complete by March of the following year — record time for a full-scale grand prix circuit.
The swift construction also left plenty of time to resolve any issues before its planned appearance on the Formula 1 calendar in August, minimising the possibility of unforeseen problems when race day eventually came around which had blighted many other new circuits during the 1980s. The circuit — christened the Hungaroring — would be ready to play its role in making history.
Despite the fact that everything surrounding the much-anticipated new race had gone remarkably smoothly up to this point, there was a hint of trepidation alongside the excitement at the notion of taking F1 behind the Iron Curtain.
Some were concerned that the deeply capitalist nature of Formula 1 — a sport where money was thrown around without a second thought — might clash with the socialist values of a country like Hungary, and there was some fear about potential backlash towards the race. Others meanwhile worried about if a country like Hungary could deliver the kind of rarefied atmosphere that was increasingly becoming expected in Formula 1, with some reports notably playing upon stereotypes of Eastern Bloc nations as being impoverished and backwards.
When the date of the much-anticipated race weekend finally came around though, it quickly became clear that such concerns had been unfounded. An unprecedentedly large crowd of some 200,000 strong from all over the Eastern Bloc and across the world attended the new circuit to witness the first Formula 1 race on Hungarian soil, while the paddock was awash with big names from motorsport and beyond who gave the event a suitably glamorous ambiance.
It was clear from the attendance that enthusiasm for motorsport in Eastern Europe had not been dampened by its long absence — if anything it had perhaps been heightened.
The support was also undoubtedly bolstered by the specific circumstances of the 1986 season. A titanic four-way title battle between Williams teammates Nigel Mansell and Nelson Piquet, the Lotus of Ayrton Senna, and the reigning champion Alain Prost in his McLaren was already well underway by August. The Hungarian race would therefore be the staging ground for the next dramatic clash between these four gladiators, and the prospect of a battle between them helped draw in spectators from far and wide.
The one thing that remained was to see how Formula 1 cars would take to the new circuit, and if it would meet the high expectations of drivers, fans and pundits alike. There was no doubt some level of nervousness among the race organisers at the possibility of their race failing to live up to expectations.
The glimpse of F1 cars running in anger on the new circuit came in the practice and qualifying sessions on the Friday and Saturday of the race weekend, and for the most part, feedback was positive.
The organisation of the event in particular came in for praise from pundits, with the Hungarian Automobile Federation showing an almost military level of efficiency in how their big event was run. Considering the shambolic nature of several races at the time with ill-equipped, undertrained marshals and slapdash race direction, the fact that the first ever F1 race at a new circuit could be organised this well was a revelation for many in the paddock, and prompted other circuits to raise their game in response.
The circuit itself came in for some praise from the drivers too thanks to its modern design and excellent safety standards for the day, with the large runoff areas interspersed with gravel setting what would become a de facto standard for circuit design into the 1990s and even 2000s.
There were a few criticisms however, most notably surrounding lack of high-speed sections and big overtaking opportunities, which has remained a common complaint of the circuit to this day. The lack of grip provided by the newly laid asphalt was also something of an issue, which provided a significant challenge for the drivers, especially with the 1000+ horsepower that the cars of the time were producing in qualifying trim.
Perhaps the most apt demonstration of both the safety and slipperiness of the new circuit was given by Ayrton Senna, with the normally unflappable Brazilian spinning his Lotus no fewer than five times during practice for the race.
Thanks to the track’s ample runoff areas, Senna was totally unhindered though, and it soon became clear that he was simply learning how far he could push the limit on the new circuit. Going into the final Saturday qualifying session his confidence was high.
Sure enough, in that final session to set the grid, Senna blitzed around in his trademark fashion to claim his sixth pole position of the season. In doing so, he claimed the honour of the first F1 pole position behind the Iron Curtain.
Senna’s compatriot Piquet occupied second place on the grid in his Williams FW11, some three-tenths down on the time Senna had set, while the other title contenders of Prost and Mansell somewhat predictably occupied the second row. This arrangement of all four title contenders in the top four grid spots was almost too good to be true, with the expectation of a straight fight between the four championship protagonists sending excitement levels higher than ever.
Race day was the 10th of August 1986, and the story of that race proved to be the protracted battle between the two Brazilian hotshoes of their day — the two-time champion Nelson Piquet and the young pretender to his throne Ayrton Senna.
Despite the initial blip of a slow start for Piquet which briefly allowed Mansell into second, the two South Americans soon took up the same positions at the head of the field that they had qualified in, and streaked away from the chasing pack in unison.
It was clear to all that this was to be a one-on-one, no-holds-barred fight for victory between the two Brazilians, with the Hungaroring circuit providing a fitting backdrop to their duel. The first major punch in the sparring match between the Williams and Lotus came on lap 11, when the Piquet demonstrated the superiority of his Williams-Honda in race conditions by sweeping effortlessly past Senna’s Lotus on the circuit’s pit straight.
The battle was far from over though, as the pit window soon opened. Both leaders soon came in for new tyres, but Piquet experienced a delay during his stop which allowed the Lotus back into the lead. In the meantime, further back, the championship battle also took a dramatic turn when reigning champion Prost lost 8 laps in the pits with electrical issues, making it two races in a row where the McLaren had lost valuable points due to factors outside Prost’s control. The points loss dropped the McLaren driver from second down to fourth in the title battle.
Despite this development in the championship fight, the focus was understandably on the battle for the lead, which was increasing in ferocity as the race wore on as the two leaders treated the enormous crowd to a dazzling display of motor racing at its best.
After tailing the Lotus closely following the pitstops, Piquet made his first attempt to reclaim the lead on lap 56, but braked too late on the slippery track surface and slewed wide, allowing the canny Senna to dart back through into the lead. It was clear that overtaking was absolutely possible at the Hungaroring, but that it would require something special to demote a driver of Senna’s defensive prowess to second.
Something special is exactly what the unprecedented crowd got, as Piquet had another go at wresting the lead from his countryman on the following lap. Indeed, the move Piquet pulled on Lap 57 is perhaps the most famous attacking maneuver ever pulled at the Hungaroring, if not any circuit.
Piquet again chose turn 1 as the location for his attack, which had quickly been established as the prime overtaking spot on the circuit. Once again he braked impossibly late in his efforts to pass the notoriously recalcitrant Senna, but this time he didn’t lock up and go wide. Instead, he deftly drifted his Williams FW11 around the outside of Senna’s Lotus and gave his younger compatriot no choice but to accept second best.
It has also been widely reported that the notoriously brash Piquet raised his middle finger to his rival as he completed this overtaking maneuver one handed — an impressive feat given the near 1000 horsepower delivered by his race-spec Honda engine caused his car to squirm unnervingly on acceleration as he did so.
While Piquet’s rowdiness rings differently in light of his later abhorrent comments which have seen him banned from the Formula 1 paddock, the fact was that after passing Senna he managed the race to perfection to win Formula 1’s first race in the Eastern Bloc. In doing so had played a key role in putting on a show that few in the crowd would soon forget, and in ensuring that the first F1 Hungarian Grand Prix would not also be the last.
Formula 1 couldn’t really have asked for a better advertisement of what it could provide to the Eastern Bloc, and the Hungaroring circuit had similarly come away with glowing reviews after displaying that a communist country was capable of not only building a good track, but of setting a new standard when it came to the level of presentation expected from a grand prix, and of fully living up to the glitz and glamour that was expected of Formula 1.
When all of these factors were combined with the unprecedented spectator figures which simply could not be argued with, the Hungarian Grand Prix’s continued place on the Formula 1 calendar was assured. Ecclestone’s gamble had paid off, and the Hungarian Automobile Federation had proven that his backing was not misplaced.
Indeed, the Hungaroring has remained on the Formula 1 calendar ever since that first race in 1986, in one of the longest unbroken runs of races at the same circuit for any Formula 1 event.
It even survived the breakup of the very eastern bloc whose existence had been such a marketing tool for the race in the first place, as Hungary’s departure from the Soviet sphere of influence and the subsequent end of communist rule in the country in 1989 passed without so much as a blip when it came to the track’s presence on the F1 calendar. Considering Formula 1 mainstays such as Monza, Monaco and Silverstone have all seen occasional absences from the calendar, such a consistent run of appearances speaks to the dependability of the Hungaroring as an F1 circuit.
In the years that followed that inaugural grand prix, the Hungaroring carved out an almost unchallenged niche for itself as Formula 1’s only eastern European circuit, which has served to keep attendance levels consistently healthy. In particular, the circuit has been a popular destination among Finnish fans, who have adopted the circuit as something of a surrogate home grand prix in order to watch talents such as Mika Häkkinen, Kimi Räikkönen, Heikki Kovalainen (who won his only grand prix at the track) and Valtteri Bottas race.
This ersatz-home race status for Finnish drivers perhaps helps to make up for the fact that Hungary itself has severely lacked top-level drivers during the Hungaroring’s time on the calendar. Only a single Hungarian native — Jordan and Minardi driver Zsolt Baumgartner — has had the honour of competing on his home track in F1 machinery. If anything though, this makes the circuit’s longevity even more remarkable, as other circuits such as the Swedish Anderstorp circuit sadly failed to stay on the calendar once its home heroes dropped off the F1 grid.
Despite its undeniable popularity and longevity though, many of the same criticisms initially levelled at the Hungaroring upon its debut in F1 have persisted into the present day. Chief among these is the circuit’s reputation as being “like Monaco without the walls”, which carries with it an implication of low quality racing and overtaking being near-impossible.
While it is certainly true that the circuit is relatively tight and downforce-centric like Monaco, the quality of racing on display at the Hungaroring in my opinion far exceeds almost anything seen at Monaco since at least 1985.
While not every race at the Hungaroring has been world-class, there have been a plethora of exciting races over the years, such as Nigel Mansell’s memorable charge for Ferrari in 1989, where he aptly demonstrated that overtaking is very much possible at Budapest by charging up from 12th on the grid to take victory, sealing his win with a memorable overtake for the lead on Ayrton Senna.
Exciting races have followed at a fairly steady rate ever since, with Jenson Button’s inaugural victory in a wet-dry 2006 race, the dramatic 2014 running with Fernando Alonso dragging his recalcitrant Ferrari to near-victory only to be denied at the death by Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo, and 2021’s “Bottas Bowling” all proving particularly memorable.
While the man who was a key driving force behind the Hungaroring’s appearance on the f1 calendar is no longer in control of Formula 1, confidence in the circuit’s place on the calendar has remained high, and its status as a dependable home for F1 in eastern Europe has persisted to the present day, despite recent challenges from events such as the revived Russian Grand Prix hosted in Sochi from 2014 to 2021.
As recently as 2023, a new 5-year deal was announced which will keep the Hungaroring on the calendar into the 2030s, which will take the track tantalizingly close to 50 unbroken years in Formula 1.
Considering that several other legacy circuits are coming under increasing scrutiny under the current Formula 1 leadership regime, Hungary is clearly doing something right to inspire such loyalty from the powers that be.
I for one look forward to the future races that the by-now well-seasoned circuit has to offer, and hope that they can live up to a plethora of excellent races it has provided us with in the past…
