Hungarian GP 1992

Hungarian GP, 1992

Driver Eric van de Poele had decided that he was wasting his time at Brabham and so moved to Fondmetal to replace Andrea Chiesa. The team had built up a new GR02 chassis for the Belgian, to replace the one destroyed by Chiesa at Magny-Cours. Brabham reduced its involvement to just one car for Damon Hill.

Qualifying resulted in pole position going to Riccardo Patrese while Nigel Mansell - who was hoping to claim the World Championship after eight wins in 10 races - was second. Ayrton Senna was third as usual in his McLaren-Honda while Michael Schumacher was fourth for Benetton. Then came Gerhard Berger in the second McLaren, Martin Brundle in the second Benetton and Michele Alboreto in the Footwork-Mugen. Thierry Boutsen was eighth in his Ligier-Renault while the top 10 was rounded off by the two Ferraris of Jean Alesi and Ivan Capelli. Gabriele Tarquini impressed with 12th place in his Fondmetal.

At the start Patrese took the lead from Mansell and as Mansell backed off to avoid hitting Patrese both Senna and Berger overtook him. Behind the leaders there was a mess as the two Ligiers of Thierry Boutsen and Erik Comas collided (a repeat of similar events in Brazil). As they spun they took out Johnny Herbert's Lotus and Tarquini's Fondmetal.

Mansell overtook Berger for third place on the eighth lap and set off after Senna but the Brazilian as always did everything he could to stop Mansell passing him. On lap 31 Mansell made a mistake and dropped behind Berger again but within a couple of laps Mansell was again ahead. On lap 39 Patrese spun off. He rejoined in seventh position but his engine blew soon afterwards. With Patrese out Mansell had only to finish second to clinch the World Championship. Mansell was no longer taking risks and Senna began to pull away. Mansell had a problem later in the race and had to pit and was sixth when he rejoined. He quickly caught and passed Mika Hakkinen's Lotus and was helped when Schumacher's rear wing broke as a result of being hit from behind earlier by Brundle. The German's Benetton was thrown into a series of high speed spins which fortunately did not end up in contact with a barrier. Mansell easily overtook Brundle and Berger and returned to second place. Senna made a precautionary pit stop in the closing stages but he was nearly a minute ahead and it made little difference.

In the final laps Hakkinen overtook Brundle (who was struggling without sixth gear) and tried to pass Berger. The Finn spun off and Brundle had to do the same to avoid a collision. They both rejoined.

Senna duly won with the new World Champion Nigel Mansell second ahead of Berger, Hakkinen, Brundle and Capelli.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
1 1 Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda  77 1h46m19.21s  3 
2 5 Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault  77 1h46m59.355s  2 
3 2 Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda  77 1h47m13.529s  5 
4 11 Mika Hakkinen Lotus-Cosworth  77 1h47m13.529s  16 
5 20 Martin Brundle Benetton-Cosworth  77 1h47m16.714s  6 
6 28 Ivan Capelli Ferrari  76  10 
7 9 Michele Alboreto Footwork-Mugen Honda  75  7 
8 4 Andrea de Cesaris Tyrrell-Ilmor  75  19 
9 17 Paul Belmondo March-Ilmor  74  17 
10 33 Mauricio Gugelmin Jordan-Yamaha  73  21 
11 8 Damon Hill Brabham-Judd  73  25 
r 19 Michael Schumacher Benetton-Cosworth  63 Spin/rear Wing Lost 4 
r 6 Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault  55 Engine 1 
r 22 Pierluigi Martini Dallara-Ferrari  40 Gearbox 26 
r 30 Ukyo Katayama Venturi Larrousse-Lamborghini  35 Engine 20 
r 27 Jean Alesi Ferrari  14 Spin 9 
r 29 Bertrand Gachot Venturi Larrousse-Lamborghini  13 Accident 15 
r 10 Aguri Suzuki Footwork-Mugen Honda  13 Accident 14 
r 3 Olivier Grouillard Tyrrell-Ilmor  13 Accident 22 
r 16 Karl Wendlinger March-Ilmor  13 Accident 23 
r 32 Stefano Modena Jordan-Yamaha  13 Accident 24 
r 14 Andrea Chiesa Fondmetal-Cosworth  2 Spin 18 
r 26 Erik Comas Ligier-Renault  0 Accident 11 
r 25 Thierry Boutsen Ligier-Renault  0 Accident 8 
r 12 Johnny Herbert Lotus-Cosworth  0 Accident 13 
r 15 Gabriele Tarquini Fondmetal-Cosworth  0 Accident 12 
nq 24 Gianni Morbidelli Minardi-Lamborghini    27 
nq 21 JJ Lehto Dallara-Ferrari    28 
nq 23 Christian Fittipaldi Minardi-Lamborghini    29 
nq 34 Roberto Moreno Andrea Moda-Judd    30 
npq 35 Perry McCarthy Andrea Moda-Judd    31