Pre-GP Stats Analysis: Hungary

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With one more points finish, a Ferrari engine will be in the points for the 46th straight race, tying for the third all-time for a record set by Renault from Monaco 1991 to Brazil 1994.

The absolute record belongs to Ford, that put the Cosworth in the points for 228 straight races from Canada 1967 to Netherlands 1983. The second all-time sequence belongs to Ferrari, with 55 races from Malaysia 1999 to Malaysia 2003.

A Ferrari-powered car has been in the points in every race since the 2006 Bahrain Grand Prix. In this sequence there is only one race where the run was kept alive by a car that was not a Ferrari, in the 2006 Australian Grand Prix with David Coulthard's Red Bull.

Hungary personal scoreboard

• Kimi Raikkonen won in Hungary in 2005 and was second in 2003 and 2007. In recent years he's suffered two retirements, for an electrical problem in 2004 and an accident in 2006;

• Felipe Massa's best result in Hungary is a seventh place he obtained in his debut back in 2002, and repeated in 2006. Last year he was only 13th after qualifying 14th;

• Nick Heidfeld was third both in 2006 and 2007. Last year he was able to qualify on the front row at his eighth attempt at this track. This second place ended a four-year period where he didn't qualify in the top ten. The German has retired in Hungary only once, in his debut race, in 2000;

• Fernando Alonso scored his maiden win here in 2003 and was on the podium the following year. He's had less success in recent times, retiring in 2005 after contact with Ralf Schumacher and being given costly grid penalties for the last two years;

• David Coulthard has scored five podiums in Hungary, the last in 2001. This is the third most the circuit, behind Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher who had seven each. His last point-scoring finish was back in 2006 with a fifth place;

• Mark Webber has scored points just twice out of six starts. He was sixth in 2003 and seventh in 2005;

• Jarno Trulli's best result in 11 attempts at Hungary is a fourth place in 2005. This was also his last point-scoring finish here;

• Jenson Button scored the only win of his career in Hungary in 2006 from 13th on the grid. That was his only podium at the Hungaroring. He counts only two fifth-placed places, in 2004 and 2005, and no other point-scoring finishes here;

• Rubens Barrichello won from pole here in 2002 and finished second in 2001 and 2004. Since then he was in the points only in 2006, with a fourth place;

• Giancarlo Fisichella's best result at the Hungaroring out of 11 starts is a sixth place in 2002. His last point-scoring finish was back in 2004 in eighth. He's retired six times from the Hungarian Grand Prix, among those are three engine failures in 1999, 2001 and 2003;

• Lewis Hamilton won the 2007 race from pole, having remained in the lead for the entire race;

Other notes on the Hungarian Grand Prix

• Ferrari has not won in Hungary since their dominant 2004 season. This is one of the five grands prix of the 2008 season where Ferrari are not the most successful team, the others are Australia, Monaco, Japan and Brazil. At the top of the wins chart at Hungary are Williams and McLaren with seven each, while Ferrari have five;

• BMW Sauber's best results were third places in 2006 and in 2007;

• Honda won in 2006 with Button, but last year their best was a lowly 18th (and last) for Barrichello;

• The last podium for a Renault was in 2004 with a third for Alonso. Since then, both cars were out of the points in 2005 and both retired in 2006. In 2007 the best result was eighth for Heikki Kovalainen

• Renault's win with Alonso in 2003 was the first for the French team in 20 years, as the previous win was scored by Alain Prost in 1983 at the Austrian Grand Prix;

• Toro Rosso have not yet made it into the top-ten in Hungary;

• Toyota have been on the podium just once in six years. That was in 2005 with Ralf Schumacher;

• The last visit to the podium by a Williams driver was in 2003 with a third by Juan-Pablo Montoya. Their last hungaroring win was recorded in 1997 by Jacques Villeneuve;

Moments to remember in the Hungarian Grand Prix

1998 - Abracadabra

Right after the start, three drivers set out in front, they were Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard for McLaren, and Michael Schumacher for Ferrari. Schumacher was faster than Coulthard, but on the Hungaroring it was impossible to find a way past.

Given the stalemate, Ferrari short-fuelled Schumacher in order to send him out quickly, with a faster car. The price to pay, however, was one more pit stop. The McLaren pit wall was caught by surprise and quickly called in their drivers, without changing strategy.

That allowed Michael to have a clear track, the ideal scenario to build the gap he needed for his third stop. Furthermore, Hakkinen had problems with his rear suspension right after his final stop, blocking Coulthard for a handful of laps. That made Schumacher's task a little easier and the German could afford an off-track excursion and eventually emerge in the lead after his third stop.

1999 - Hakkinen's show

Mika Hakkinen came to the Hungarian Grand Prix fuelled up by the frustration of two mechanical failures and an accident that marred his three previous races. The Finn finally had a clean weekend in Budapest and showed his form, recording a superb victory. Eddie Irvine, in the Ferrari, was able to defend second from David Coulthard for the whole race, but in the final laps he went wide at Turn Five and the Scot was past.

2000 - Hakkinen-bis

Like in 1999, Mika was on a class of his own, even with Michael Schumacher on track this time. Despite setting pole position, Schumacher had to defend all the way from Coulthard, who nearly passed him after the second and final pitstops.

2001 - Straightforward

Michael Schumacher pulled away at the start and won easily, while his teammate Barrichello passed Coulthard at the second round of pitstops, completing the Ferrari one-two. It was the 13th race out of 17 and Schumacher was already world champion.

2002 - Is that endurance racing?

The Ferraris were able to run the whole race at a reduced pace and score a one-two. Their dominance was so evident that after the race a team member thought he was looking at an endurance race instead of a Formula One grand prix. Schumacher left the win to Barrichello to help him score points for the second place in the championship.

2003 - Fernando's maiden win

Alonso made an amazing start from pole, partly thanks to the perfect launch control of his Renault. Behind him, Mark Webber held back all his rivals in a Jaguar and they could only chase Alonso once Webber pulled in for his first stop. It was too late and Alonso already had 20 seconds in his pocket and was able to manage the gap until the end.

It was the first win for a Spanish driver in F1 and Alonso was the youngest winner ever at 22 years and 26 days, a record that still stands. The race was a nightmare for Ferrari with Barrichello flying off the track after he lost his left rear wheel, and Schumacher being lapped.

2004 - Red dominance

The 2004 edition was even easier than 2002 for Ferrari. They were one-two for the entire race, even during their pit-stops, and finished more than 40 seconds in front of everyone else. The fastest laps sheet told the story, the closest rival was Alonso, 1.204 seconds slower.

2005 - 1998 revisited

Michael Schumacher set pole position with nearly nine tenths in hand over Montoya. He led from the start and everyone expected him to be light on fuel, but first to stop was Kimi Raikkonen. The German was able to run another handful of laps and eventually came back in front of the Finn after his stop.

The lead was taken by Montoya, who ran extremely long on a two stopper instead of the usual three, pulling in the pits on the 22nd lap, 11 later than his teammate. This helped him to recover some ground on the leaders, but the order remained the same, with Schumacher in front, Raikkonen second and Montoya third.

Towards mid-race, Ron Dennis probably recalled the trick Schumacher pulled in 1998, called Raikkonen in and short fuelled him. The Finn came back on track with a blistering pace, lapping two to three seconds faster than Schumacher, who was experiencing tyre wear problems.

Raikkonen won unchallenged in the end and Schumacher was lucky to come second because Montoya retired with a broken halfshaft.

2006 - Button time

The eve of the race was full of controversy as both Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso, the title contenders, were hit by penalties and started 11th and 15th. It seemed like they were out of the fight for the win, but rain on race day shuffled the cards.

Raikkonen took the lead, but pulled into the pits too early for his first stop, Alonso hit the front, pulled away, and looked to be unreachable with a 50-second lead after 26 laps.

Raikkonen then rammed Liuzzi and prompted a Safety Car intervention. Alonso retained the lead, but he lost a wheel a few metres after his second stop and was out of the race. Jenson Button then found himself in the lead and went straight to his first win.

In the final stages it looked like Michael Schumacher would snatch a podium, but he took a risk, going with intermediate tyres on a dry track. He went off, touched other drivers, and broke his steering.

2007 - Team "mates"

During the qualifying session, something went wrong in the McLaren camp as Lewis Hamilton did not give way to Alonso as agreed beforehand. Alonso's stationary car delayed Hamilton's pitstop in the dying moments of the session and the Briton was not able to complete his decisive qualifying lap, while Alonso did and took pole.

The stewards decided to inflict a five-place grid penalty on Alonso that effectively meant he was out of the fight for the win. Hamilton won from pole, closely followed by Raikkonen.

Anniversaries of the race weekend

On the 3rd of August 1958, Peter Collins died after going off track while battling for the lead at Pflanzgarten during the German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring.

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