During the first stage of its history Formula 1, the main locations they visited were on the European continent, with occasional trips to the Americas and the ever-constant trip to South Africa. The globalization of the category took time to establish itself, but it finally happened because of the vision of the market Bernie Ecclestone. During the 1980s F1 expanded into new places such as Las Vegas, Australia and double dates in Great Britain and Italy. However, the main inclusion in the calendar would be in unusual territory: Hungary.
In the mid-eighties, East Europe it had very little to do with the rest Old continent. A total of nine states were governed under a communist system and six of them were allied with one of the two great powers of the Cold War, the Soviet Union. One of these countries was Hungary, which since 1949 had been a Soviet satellite state, which involved massive political, economic and military interventionism. Over the years, Soviet foreign policy relaxed, which allowed countries bordering the First World, such as Hungary, to begin opening up to the rest of the world.
Motorsport was not an exclusive phenomenon in the West, Asia and Latin America, it also had a notable audience in the Eastern Bloc as the mythical Easter formula. However, the main global category, Formula 1 had never set foot on any ground beyond the Iron Curtain.
All this began to change in the most representative place for the category, the Monaco Grand Prix, 1983. The rain fell on the streets of the Principality while Bernie Ecclestone and Tamas Rohonyi, A Hungarian businessman, he was negotiating an event in a Soviet-influenced area. Not long ago Ecclestone tried to port a race to USSR which ultimately did not materialize. The executive wanted Formula 1 to expand there, taking advantage of the looser policies the socialist confederation had begun to outline in previous years in relation to the capitalist world.
🇭🇺 This week it’s time to travel to 𝑯𝒖𝒏𝒓𝒊́𝒂
❌ In 2021, 𝐭𝐭𝐨 passed to 𝑯𝒖𝒏𝒈𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈
🤔 What do you think will happen this year? pic.twitter.com/lEKcuNz1ZZ
— 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 Spain 🇪 (@sportingnewses) July 26, 2022
“He said Moscow was depressing and the bureaucracy made it almost impossible anyway”Rohoni told Reuters recently. “I said to him, why don’t you try Budapest?
Hungary offered an unbeatable geographical position, close to Germany Y next to Austria and Italy, so that teams can move more easily from one point to another within Europe. Despite the positive points it could offer, objectively The Grand Prix would not be so easy to implement. On the one hand, Rohonyi had left the country during the 1950s in response to the repression of the Hungarian Autumn. On the other hand, Hungary had achieved greater autonomy than other socialist countries, which made it easier but did not guarantee anything.
Surprisingly, the conversations between Rohonyi, Formula 1 and the Hungarian leaders ended up paying off. It was all because the government sought to expand its horizons beyond Soviet influence with actions that included joining the International Monetary Fund, opening up to multinational corporations and, of course, events like a Grand Prix.
The agreement was implemented in December 1985 and the chosen place was a small town north of Budapest, Mogyoród. Initially, Ecclestone wanted to put it on the streets of the Hungarian capital, but the government did not consider it feasible. It would have been necessary to cut down a large number of trees and green spaces, so the urban layout was soon rejected. This is how the construction of the Hungaroring became possible, the first and only Grand Prix in Formula 1 history in a Soviet-influenced area.
An event for which it was necessary for the teams to receive preferential treatment at the border with your visas, must pass through a certain place in Austria. Not only that, but Soviet troops were very present in the country, who were very suspicious of foreign elements such as the helicopters used by F1 for both security and broadcasts.
Finally, this The 1986 Hungarian Grand Prix was a success. More than 200,000 The crowd was on hand to witness Nelson Piquet’s legendary pass on the outside of Ayrton Senna at Turn 1. A record attendance weekend that would take 11 years to be broken, at the 1995 Australian GP (210,000).
36 years after debuting on the calendar, Hungary has not failed once in Formula 1. “Monaco of the East” He may not always put on a great show, but when he does it’s memorable, just remember what happened in 2021.
