2017 Hungarian Grand Prix stats preview

2017 Hungarian Grand Prix

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Last year in Hungary Lewis Hamilton broke one of Michael Schumacher’s records by becoming the first driver to win the race five times.

This weekend he could equal one of Schumacher’s greatest career milestones by reaching his all-time pole positions record. Schumacher stands on 68, one more than Hamilton’s 67.

Hamilton has excellent form at the Hungaroring and has taken pole position five times at this track. The first of those was somewhat controversial as it came after his team mate Fernando Alonso was penalised for impeding Hamilton in the pits.

Schumacher, however, holds the record for most pole positions at the Hungaroring with seven – a mark Hamilton cannot reach this weekend.

Race history

Only two out of nine pole sitters have won since 2008
The Hungaroring’s unbroken streak of holding a race every year since it came onto the calendar in 1986 is one few other circuits can match. Only Monza and Monaco have also appeared on the calendar every year since then (Silverstone did not host the 1986 British Grand Prix).

The Hungaroring has a habit of defying expectations. The track has a justifiable reputation for being difficult to overtake on and therefore taking pole position is extremely important. However none of the past three winners started from pole position and only two of the last nine pole sitters won the race.

Similarly, Red Bull’s reputation for excelling on this type of high-downforce track is not borne out by their performance over the years. They only won once during their championship-winning seasons, and Daniel Ricciardo added another success for the team in 2014.

This is one of only two tracks on the calendar where three different teams have won in the three previous seasons, the other being Sepang. In both cases Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull were the winners.

The form book

With just one point in it between Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel, the fight for the championship lead is closer than it has been since the Chinese Grand Prix. The two protagonists have scored at every race so far; indeed they’ve scored in all 15 races since last year’s Malaysian Grand Prix, where both retired.

If Hamilton takes the championship lead this weekend he will have mirrored the first half of last season, where Nico Rosberg led the points from the opening round until Hamilton moved ahead in Hungary.

As Vettel remarked at Silverstone, Mercedes have raised their game over the last four races. During this time they’ve taken 151 points from a possible 172.

Nico Hulkenberg is just three races away from equalling Adrian Sutil’s record for most starts without a podium finish. However Renault enjoyed their most competitive weekend of the year last time out at Silverstone. The RS17 doesn’t look capable of contending for podium finishes on merit yet, so Hulkenberg needs a few of the front-runners to have a bad weekend in one of the three remaining European rounds to avoid claiming this unwelcome distinction.

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Lap times

The last major revision to the Hungaroring was in 2003. However last year the track was resurfaced and the kerbs eased in places, helping F1 record sub-80 second laps for the first time since the end of the V8 engine era.

Overtaking

Source: Mercedes

The Hungaroring has a reputation for being one of the toughest circuits to overtake on, though that has changed in the DRS era.

Race ratings

Here’s how F1 Fanatic readers have rated the Hungarian Grand Prix in recent years.

Join in Rate the Race when the chequered flag falls at the end of this year’s race. You will need a (free) F1 Fanatic account to participate:

2017 Hungarian Grand Prix

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Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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21 comments on “2017 Hungarian Grand Prix stats preview”

  1. With just one point in it between Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel, the fight for the championship lead is closer than it has been at any stage this season since all the drivers turned up at Melbourne on zero.

    They were level on points after China

    1. Good point (no pun intended). Fixed!

    2. Yep. Was just about to type this below.

  2. 2 great races in 2014 and 2015. Hopefully this year is a similar race. Although I can’t really see many overtakes happening round this track with these cars unfortunately.

    1. @hugh11 Exactly. I hope this year’s edition would be similar to the 2014 and ’15 ones as well but as always my expectations for this circuit regarding the quality of are low for obvious reasons.

      1. @jerejj ‘Quality of racing’

    2. Yeah, low expectations for this race. At least the cars should be spectacular through the fast stuff.

  3. Evil Homer (@)
    25th July 2017, 14:29

    Daniel for the win here this weekend! May be a little hopeful but still backing it!

    @keithcollantine – any charts/stats on how overtaking has progressed this season? I think it started very slow then driver have just adapted and seem to be making moves in other places. Any thoughts?

    1. Yeah me too, would like to see a report for the overtakes this season.

    2. ….and Vettel and Hamilton run each other off the track and out of the race…

      1. Yes l can see rb win either ric or max..just read about Jos putting RB on notice about a producing Max winning car for Max..if this is true Jos is a nob, every driver wants a winning car why would go public about it!! No wonder this guy is so disliked in the racing world ” a classic dancing mom”

  4. Meanwhile .. I just saw the 2018 Indycar and it looks awesome !

  5. I guess this 2007 race is where Alonso started to crack against Hamilton. Amazing a rookie rattled and beat the reigning 2x defending champ and ran him out of town. Hamilton has had snakes as teammates who had yo resort to fake chit to stop him(Rosberg Monaco 2014)

    1. Wow…….you must be new here

    2. COTD?

    3. Move on man…

      Especially Rosberg. Geez, what does a guy have to do?

  6. Crazy stat that I have to Mobil Grid F1 on twitter to post.

    Schumacher in 2004, is the last driver to have won the Hungarian Grand Prix and who then went on to win the drivers title

  7. I hope this year’s Hungarian GP will be better than the failure.

    1. …’covfefe’ moment?

  8. Where can I find statistics about overtaking, also regarding the current season?
    Thanks.

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