Hungarian Grand Prix: Memorable Moments

Ferrari mechanics recover the car of Felipe Massa following his accident during qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix at the Hungaroring on July 25, 2009 in Budapest, Hungary. (Getty Images)

No one can stop the British Lion

Nigel Mansell won just one championship in the all-conquering Williams FW14B. So why do the British fans adore him so much and why is he called the British Lion?

It is just because of performances like the one in the 1989 Hungarian Grand Prix. He started 12th and won the race in dry conditions; that should be enough to sum up what a special drive it was. Mansell took advantage of the misfortunes of drivers around him, which left him with just Senna to pass. Mansell was initially unable to pass but one mistake from Senna was all that was required. The Briton waited patiently and when Senna hesitated while passing the lapped Onyx of Stefan Johannson, Mansell raced past the McLaren and ran off into the distance. The winning margin for the Ferrari driver was 26 seconds!

Now how can you not admire someone like that?

Schumacher and Brawn: the legendary combo

Michael Schumacher and Ross Brawn together won many races and most of them were due to the superior Ferrari as compared to their rivals. Not in Hungary, 1998 though. Being unable to match the pace of the two McLarens ahead, master tactician Brawn made his move by switching Schumacher to a three pit-stop strategy mid-race, which caught McLaren unaware and ultimately handed the win to the German an impressive 10 seconds ahead of David Coulthard.

Dark times for Alonso at McLaren

The 2007 Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying session was one of the darkest in the history of the sport. Things between Alonso and McLaren Team Principal Ron Dennis had turned sour after ‘spy-gate’ and the Spaniard tried to take his revenge by disadvantaging Dennis’s favourite, teammate Lewis Hamilton.

After changing tyres before his final run, Alonso remained stationary in the pit-stop for a long time, which forced Hamilton to queue up. When Alonso deemed that the time left was not sufficient for Hamilton to do a flying lap, he left the pits and set the fastest time to take pole position.

Hamilton’s side of the garage immediately complained and Alonso was dropped from pole to 6th. McLaren were stripped of the constructors’ points for the misconduct.

Did we lose the real Felipe Massa?

Felipe Massa was the victim of one of the worst accidents in the sport in recent times at Hungary, 2009. After a spring from fellow Brazilian Rubens Barrichello’s car hit Massa’s helmet, the Ferrari driver became unconscious and the car struck the barriers at very high speed.

Massa was airlifted to the hospital and the fears of him succumbing to the injuries were very genuine. Luckily he survived but had to carry a big scar over his left eye for the rest of the year. He did get his life back but did that incident suck the mojo out of him?

After analysing his performances over the last three and a half seasons it does seem so. Will we ever get back the Felipe Massa of 2008? Ferrari hope so, we too hope so. But at the ripe age of 32, it is unlikely to happen.