1992 Hungarian Grand Prix

At the time, it was the earliest moment in Formula One history the championship has been clinched before the final race. That record would be broken ten years later at the 2002 French Grand Prix when Michael Schumacher clinched the 2002 World Championship six races early. The race also marked the final appearance of the Brabham team, which had been competing in Formula One since 1962 and had won four Drivers' Championships and two Constructors' Championships. Ferrari celebrated its 500th entry, ...

Ferrari celebrated its 500th start in a World Championship event as a team, even though Ferrari did not participate in the 1950 French Grand Prix and Peter Whitehead 's privateer entry in this race does not count towards the team's participation tally. Although its official 500th entry was at the 1992 Belgian Grand Prix , Ferrari celebrated it in Hungary due to counting Alberto Ascari entry at the 1952 Indy 500 . Until 1960, the Indianapolis 500 was considered a round of the World Championship, ...

After the German Grand Prix , the Fondmetal team replaced Andrea Chiesa with Brabham driver Eric van de Poele . Brabham did not replace van de Poele and reduced their entry to one car. This meant the pre-qualifying pool could be reduced by one, and thus Larrousse driver Bertrand Gachot was no longer required to pre-qualify. [ 3 ]

The session proved practically unnecessary as the Andrea Moda team again did not make a serious attempt to run their second car, which was driven by Perry McCarthy . His teammate Roberto Moreno had used both cars to pre-qualify, and McCarthy was only allowed to leave the pits 45 seconds before the end of the session, leaving him no chance to reach the start-finish line to begin a timed lap before the chequered flag was waved. [ 3 ] [ 4 ] This being the latest in a succession of similar incidents...

The other four cars in the session thus all pre-qualified, with the Fondmetals taking the first two places as Gabriele Tarquini outpaced van de Poele by nearly a second. Ukyo Katayama was another second further back in the remaining Larrousse , with Moreno 1.1 seconds slower in fourth, only his second pre-qualification success this season. McCarthy was the sole entrant to fail to pre-qualify. After the race, the Brabham team withdrew entirely, removing the necessity for further pre-qualifying se...

This was the chance for Williams to seal both titles and they were dominant, but it was Riccardo Patrese who took pole ahead of teammate Nigel Mansell , Ayrton Senna , Michael Schumacher , Gerhard Berger , and Martin Brundle . [ 8 ]

At the start, Gerhard Berger passed Michael Schumacher , and then Mansell lost momentum and Senna passed him with Berger following his teammate through. The order was Patrese, Senna, Berger, Mansell, Schumacher, and Brundle. There was a collision on the first lap between Érik Comas , Johnny Herbert , Thierry Boutsen , and Gabriele Tarquini who all retired on the first lap (meaning both Ligiers of Comas and Boutsen retired on the first lap), before Eric van de Poele spun into retirement at the fi...

Another multi-car collision came on lap 14, which eliminated Bertrand Gachot , Aguri Suzuki , Olivier Grouillard , Karl Wendlinger , and Stefano Modena (forcing all five drivers to retire on the same lap). Alesi in the leading Ferrari behind the leading pack spun out with the rear wheels in the gravel trap by lap 15. After these accidents, which took place in three separate sections of the track, Modena's disabled Jordan blocking turn 13 was the most precariously positioned cars of all, the SC s...

Mansell quickly caught and passed Brundle on lap 60 and four laps later, he was up to third when Schumacher's rear wing broke on his Benetton, spinning him out and retired on lap 64. Senna, a minute at the front, made a precautionary stop just as Häkkinen passed Brundle for fourth. Mansell passed Berger for second and now had a toehold on the championship. Soon afterwards, Häkkinen tried to pass Berger and spun into Brundle's path. Brundle was forced to spin to avoid a collision and both rejoine...