The 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix will be the seventh F1 race held on 1st August. It’s the day on which McLaren started from pole for the 100th time, the day Clark claimed his second title and the day on which Lauda suffered a near-fatal crash.
1st August Races in Stats:
- Five of the six previous races held on this date have been held in Germany – four at the Nurburgring, one at Hockenheim. The most recent race on this date was the 2010 Hungarian Grand Prix.
- In every previous race on 1st August, the driver who started from pole position would be crowned World Champion in the same season.
- A different team has won all six races held so far on this date.
- McLaren are the only team to have started from pole position on multiple occasions on this date.
- British drivers have won four of the six races held on this date. A German driver has finished in third place in all of the last three races on this day.
- Neither of the last two races on this day were won from pole position. The 1999 German Grand Prix – won from fifth on the grid – is the only race on this day in which the polesitter has retired.
- Tyrrell and Ferrari are the only teams to record a 1-2 finish on this date, doing so at the 1971 German Grand Prix and 1999 German Grand Prix respectively.
- All six races on this date have featured at least one driver retiring within the first two laps of the Grand Prix.
1954 German Grand Prix
Juan Manuel Fangio won the German Grand Prix on this day in 1954. He started the race from pole position for a record fourteenth time. The race distance at the Nurburgring had been extended by four laps since F1’s last visit to the circuit. The Grand Prix lasted three hours and 45 minutes; which would remain the record for the longest F1 race until the 2011 Canadian Grand Prix. The race weekend was marred by the death of Onofre Marimón, who suffered a crash in practice resulting from a brake failure.
1965 German Grand Prix
Jim Clark claimed his second title on this day in 1965 at the German Grand Prix. The 15-lap race at the Nordschleife was a dominant display by Clark. After taking pole position by almost four seconds, the Scotsman led every lap of the race and set the Fastest Lap on his way to victory. Graham Hill – the only man who could still have taken the title ahead of the race – finished fifteen seconds behind Clark, while Dan Gurney finished in third place. This was the 40th and final win for a Climax engine in Formula 1, and 1st August became the earliest date in the year on which the World Championship had been won; a record which would stand until 2002.
1971 German Grand Prix
Another Scotsman led the German Grand Prix from start to finish on this day in 1971. Jackie Stewart started from pole position for the tenth time in his career and led every lap on his way to victory. But Stewart was denied a Grand Slam by his Tyrrell team-mate Francois Cevert who recorded the first Fastest Lap of his career. Clay Regazzoni completed the podium positions.
This was the first F1 race to be held on a revised version of the Nurburgring, with circuit safety having been improved since the sport’s last visit two seasons previously. The sides of the track had been flattened, guardrails and catch fencing had been installed and the circuit had been resurfaced.
1976 German Grand Prix
Formula 1 raced on the Nordschleife circuit for the final time on this day in 1976. The 1976 German Grand Prix was marred by Niki Lauda’s near-fatal accident. The race had started in wet conditions. Having changed his tyres at the end of the first lap, Lauda crashed out on his next tour. His Ferrari, which had burst into flames, was then hit by two other cars. Lauda would survive the crash, despite suffering burns, and would go on to make a miraculous comeback later in the season. The race was won by Lauda’s title rival – and eventual 1976 World Champion – James Hunt.
Though Lauda’s accident had contributed to this being the last F1 race held at the Nordschleife, it had already been decided before the race that the sport would not visit the track again. This was because, due to its length, races at the circuit would be near enough impossible to cover comprehensively in a television broadcast.
1999 German Grand Prix
Eddie Irvine was aided to victory by team orders at Ferrari on this day in 1999 at the German Grand Prix. Mika Hakkinen had recorded McLaren’s 100th pole position the previous day and would lead the first half of the Hockenheim race. Hakkinen lost time refuelling, allowing both Ferrari drivers to pass him, and the Finn crashed out of the race following a tyre failure, which sent him spearing into the barriers.
Mika Salo was competing in his second race for Ferrari having replaced the injured Michael Schumacher. Salo led the race after Hakkinen’s stop, but would soon be ordered to move out of the way for team-mate Eddie Irvine. Nevertheless, Salo recorded his first podium finish, while Irvine took the lead in the Drivers’ Championship. Meanwhile, with his tenth place finish, Luca Badoer became the first driver to have started 50 Grands Prix without scoring a point.
2010 Hungarian Grand Prix
Red Bull made their 100th Grand Prix start on this day in 2010 at the Hungarian Grand Prix. Mark Webber gave the team cause for celebration on his own 150th race start, winning the race ahead of Fernando Alonso and team-mate Sebastian Vettel.
The race was notable for Michael Schumacher’s defensive move on Rubens Barrichello on the pit straight. The move nearly saw the Williams driver squeezed into the pit wall. Schumacher’s antics were met with criticism from fellow drivers, including multiple World Champions Niki Lauda and Jackie Stewart. Meanwhile, Pedro de la Rosa, who finished in seventh place, scored the final points of his career at this event.