2004 Hungarian GP Facts & Figures

By BMW WilliamsF1
August 6 2004

	Facts & Figures
	- Last year, BMW WilliamsF1 Team drivers, Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya, qualified in second and fourth positions for the 2003 Hungarian Grand Prix. However, both suffered with traction control problems at the start, causing Montoya to drop to eighth place, while Ralf dropped to18th place following a first corner incident. Despite limited overtaking opportunities at the Hungaroring, the pair fought their way through the field to finish in third (Montoya) and fourth (Schumacher) places, moving the team into the lead of the 2003 FIA Constructors' Championship. - Montoya posted the fastest lap of the race (1:22.095m) and therefore the first lap record of the newly modified circuit. - Renault's Fernando Alonso claimed pole position with a lap time of 1:21.688m and subsequently went on to take his first Formula One win. At just 22 years and 26 days old, Alonso's remains the youngest Grand Prix winner in the history of Formula One. - The Hungarian Grand Prix has been on the Formula One calendar since 1986, with this year's race being the 19th Grand Prix that Hungary has hosted. The track has undergone repeated modifications, most recently ahead of last year's race when the circuit was extended from 3.975kms to 4.381kms, the longest in its history. - In 1936, before the inception of the current Formula One World Championship, the Hungarian Grand Prix was held in a park on the outskirts of Budapest. Tazio Nuvolari, driving an Alfa Romeo, claimed victory. - WilliamsF1 won the first Hungarian Grand Prix in 1986 with Nelson Piquet and has since claimed a total of seven wins out of the 18 races held at the Hungaroring. In 1992, ex-WilliamsF1 driver, Nigel Mansell, secured his one and only Drivers' Championship title at the Hungarian Grand Prix. Following WilliamsF1's partnership with BMW in 2000, the team's best results to date at the Hungaroring include two third places (Schumacher 2002 and Montoya 2003). - The two towns of Buda and Pest, which skirt the right and left banks of the Danube, were united in 1872. Today, Budapest has a population of over two million and is the economic and cultural heart of the country. The Hungaroring is about a 20 minute drive northeast of the city centre. - The 2004 Hungarian Grand Prix will cover 70 laps (a total of 306.663kms) and starts on Sunday 15th August 2004 at 14:00 hrs local time.