When Formula 1 reached Hungary for round ten of the 1989 World Championship, Alain Prost had a comfortable lead over McLaren team-mate Ayrton Senna, despite Senna beating Prost at the previous race in Germany. Despite Prost’s cushion over his team-mate and reigning World Champion, there were still seven rounds remaining for the Brazilian to catch-up.
In qualifying, Riccardo Patrese took a surprise pole position for Williams, three tenths of a second over Senna in second. Perhaps even more surprising, the Dallara of Italian Alex Caffi qualified third, the Pirelli rubber running on his car offering better grip than the Goodyear tyres, who supplied most of the top teams. The second Williams of Thierry Boutsen out-qualified Prost in fourth with Gerhard Berger’s Ferrari completing the top six. Berger’s team-mate Nigel Mansell complained of traffic and qualified a dismal twelfth.
1989 Hungarian Grand Prix: Mansell’s Greatest Win
At the start, Patrese maintained his lead with Senna second and Caffi keeping his third place. Both Ferraris got good starts, with Berger getting ahead of Prost into fifth place and Mansell gaining four places in the first corner. Berger and Prost soon overtook Caffi – his Pirellis struggling on race-day – and the Italian’s Dallara soon held-up a train of cars behind him. Mansell was soon up into fifth, past Boutsen and Caffi. He soon caught-up the leading pack which were over fifteen seconds ahead.
After Berger pitted for fresh rubber, Mansell set about passing Prost, which he did so on the straight leading up towards turn four. Patrese still led and was looking good for Williams’s first win in two seasons, until a holed radiator began to slow the Italian down. The problem worsened and Senna overtook him for the lead, with Mansell moving into second soon afterwards. Senna was now under pressure from Mansell, the two on their own at the front with Prost unable to find a way past Boutsen and Berger retiring with gearbox trouble. On lap 58, the front two came up to lap the slowing Onyx of Stefan Johannsson. Senna uncharacteristically hesitated coming out of turn three, Mansell did not. With the McLaren unable to pass Johannsson, Mansell overtook both of them in a single manoeuvre and moved into the lead. He did not look back, and saw out the remaining 19 laps and won by 25 seconds from Senna. Boutsen finished a creditable third. Prost finished fourth with America’s Eddie Cheever an impressive fifth with Nelson Piquet’s Lotus sixth. Caffi brought his Dallara home seventh.
Senna ate into Prost’s lead at the top of the championship, but the Frenchman still led the standings by fourteen points. Mansell moved ahead of Patrese into third. In the constructor’s title, McLaren led Williams by an enormous 58 points, with Ferrari third.
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