Formula 1 Nostalgia: 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix

Jenson Button declared his first victory at the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix after 113 races and 13 podiums in Formula 1’s seventh season. Briton, who started the race from 14th place on the grid, showed a pure driving brilliance and survived the field in difficult situations to win the checkered flag for the first time in his F1 career.

The 2006 F1 season marked the transition from a 3.0-liter V10 engine to a 2.4-liter V8 engine, the last year two tire makers supplied the team. It was also a year when Ferrari and Renault ruled almost completely. The Drivers’ Championship was a two-man battle between Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher and Renault’s Fernando Alonso, with Italian and French constructors dominating the season and winning all races except the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Summers in Hungary are usually hot and dry, and Hungary has a reputation for being a difficult circuit to overtake. It is narrow and twisted and often very dusty due to heat and its rare use. As a result, the Hungarian Grand Prix is ​​generally associated with procession races, which prevents cars from passing one after another. But 2006 was different. Hungary hosted the first ever Wet F1 Grand Prix, where rain confused the race and brought it one of the most action-packed races of the year.

Steward was busy preparing for the race. Championship leader Alonso received a one-second qualifying penalty for overtaking under the Yellow Flag during a practice session on Friday, and another one-second penalty on the Red Bull brake test. Test driver Robert Doornbos. During the final practice session, Schumacher was penalized for two seconds for overtaking under the red flag, and Button Honda was recovered after suffering an engine failure (then the engine was changed to Briton. A grid penalty of 10th place was imposed).

Kimi Raikkonen of McLaren won the pole ahead of Ferrari’s Felipe Massa and Honda’s Rubens Barrichello. Schumacher was 11th, Button was 14th, and Alonso was 15th. There was a lot of water on the course, and the first lap was full of ups and downs. Raikkonen took the lead, while Massa fell to 7th, and Schumacher and Alonso moved up to 5th and 7th, respectively. Button took advantage of his rainy driving skills and found a damp track grip early in the race to create important ground.

On a course notorious for lack of overtaking manners, drivers bravely tested their overtaking skills in the chaotic rain. Toro Rosso’s Toro Rosso spun out of control of his teammate Scott Speed ​​in 14th place, and Barrichello jumped into the pits and changed the tires from full wet to mid. This move was considered very strange due to worsening weather conditions. Massa took a wide line to allow BMW Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld to pass after spinning his lost Ferrari to David Coulthard’s Red Bull and then filling his hands.

Schumacher noticed that he was being attacked by Renault’s Giancarlo Fisichella, as was Alonso of Pedro de la Rosa. Barrichello had won at Massa’s Ferrari, so the team took him to the pits to change tires. However, Barrichello quickly went out of orbit and was able to recover. Fisichella made a bold move to Schumacher, but in the process he removed Ferrari’s front wing and sent the Germans into the pits. Shortly thereafter, Fisichella’s afternoon ended when he jumped into the gravel and hit a barrier. Nico Rosberg joined the race retirees after being the victim of an electrical breakdown.

With heavy rains easing, sunshine drying the trucks and a focus on tire strategy, drivers had to deal with harsh weather conditions, and by this stage Schumacher was the only Bridgestone runner in the top ten. Raikkonen’s day suddenly stopped when McLaren collided with Toro Rosso in Liuzzi and flew into the air. Neither driver was injured, but a safety car was deployed.

Alonso was one of several drivers who used the pit stop in search of fresh rubber. In addition, Button is in 2nd place and De La Rosa is in 3rd place. When the safety car arrived at Alonso, he took off at that moment, but Button stayed with the Spaniards, two fastest laps were traded, and at some point the gap was reduced to less than a second. Both cars were running on intermediate tires and had a hard time finding the damp parts of the quick-drying truck, and both chose the very necessary tire changes. However, when Alonso left the pits, Renault appeared to wobble and lost control when the nut on the right rear wheel came off and hit the barrier on turn two, causing a disaster.

In a dangerous situation, Jenson Button took the lead and crossed the finish line with only 11 cars, with McLaren’s Pedro de la Rosa in second place and Nick Heidfeld in third place with BMW Sauber on the team’s first podium. Did. But that day belonged to the winning button. Button ran through the field to claim his first F1 victory, overcoming insurmountable odds.