Ranking Lewis Hamilton’s 5 Greatest Hungarian GP Wins

Key Takeaways

Hamilton’s Hungaroring Record

Lewis Hamilton has won the Hungarian Grand Prix eight times, more than any other driver has won at the Hungaroring. Those victories arrived with two teams across fourteen seasons, beginning with McLaren in 2007 and continuing through his Mercedes years to a title-defining win in 2020. Only one driver-and-circuit pairing sits higher in the record books: Hamilton’s own nine British Grand Prix wins at Silverstone. He now drives for Ferrari, and his move there has renewed attention on a Hungaroring tally no rival has matched. Ranking his greatest wins at the track means picking through a run of results that includes rookie breakthroughs, first victories for a new team, and one of the most talked-about strategy calls of his career.

2007: The Rookie Statement

Hamilton’s first Hungarian Grand Prix win came in his rookie season of 2007, driving for McLaren. He was promoted to pole position after Fernando Alonso was penalised five grid places for holding him up in the pits during qualifying, and he led every lap of the race. The result came in the same season Hamilton led the drivers’ championship for much of the year before losing the title to Kimi Räikkönen by a single point, and it remains one of the clearest early signs of the racecraft that would define his career. Winning a Grand Prix in only his eleventh start, against a McLaren team-mate who was the reigning double world champion, made the result stand out even before the rest of his Hungaroring record existed.

2009: Winning Through Adversity

Hamilton’s 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix win came during arguably the most difficult season of his career, driving an uncompetitive McLaren built for the sport’s new aerodynamic regulations. The car had started the year off the pace of the front-running teams, and the Hungaroring victory stood out as a rare high point in a season Hamilton would ultimately finish well outside championship contention. Beating a stronger field on raw pace alone was not possible that year, which made the tactical execution behind this win, built around tyre management and track position rather than outright car speed, a notable example of Hamilton extracting more from a difficult package than the machinery seemed to allow.

2013: The First Mercedes Win

Hamilton claimed his first victory for Mercedes at the 2013 Hungarian Grand Prix, taking pole position and leading the race from the front. It came in his debut season with the team after his high-profile move away from McLaren, a switch that had been questioned by observers who felt he was leaving a championship-capable team for an unproven project. The Hungaroring result answered those doubts directly, arriving with Kimi Räikkönen as his closest challenger and giving Hamilton his first Grand Prix win for Mercedes. It marked the beginning of a partnership that would go on to produce six drivers’ championships together.

2019: The Strategy Masterclass

Hamilton’s 2019 Hungarian Grand Prix win is remembered for a bold mid-race tyre gamble that overturned a lead held by Max Verstappen. Running second for much of the 70-lap race distance, Hamilton’s team called him in for an unscheduled second pit stop for fresh medium tyres, a decision that appeared to sacrifice track position but instead set up a late-race chase. He closed down Verstappen’s advantage lap by lap and completed the pass in the closing stages, a sequence that became one of the most replayed strategy calls of that Mercedes era. The win is often cited as an example of Hamilton and his engineers reading a race in real time rather than following a fixed plan.

2020: The Eighth Win

Hamilton’s win at the 2020 Hungarian Grand Prix was his eighth at the Hungaroring, more than any other driver has won there. Coming in a pandemic-disrupted season played out largely without spectators, the result extended a run of dominance at the track that had begun thirteen years earlier with his rookie win in 2007. It also underlined the consistency of his relationship with the circuit, a driver who had won for two different constructors at the same venue across three distinct eras of the sport. No other driver has come close to matching that figure at the Hungaroring since.

FAQ

Q: How many times has Lewis Hamilton won the Hungarian Grand Prix?
Lewis Hamilton has won the Hungarian Grand Prix eight times, more than any other driver has won at the Hungaroring. The all-time record for wins at a single circuit is his own nine at Silverstone.

Q: Which teams has Hamilton won the Hungarian GP with?
Hamilton has won at the Hungaroring with both McLaren and Mercedes, with victories for McLaren in 2007, 2009 and 2012, and for Mercedes in 2013, 2016, 2018, 2019 and 2020.

Q: What made Hamilton’s 2019 Hungarian GP win notable?
Hamilton’s 2019 win came from a mid-race pit stop gamble that let him hunt down and pass Max Verstappen for the lead late in the 70-lap race.

Q: When did Hamilton take his eighth Hungarian GP win?
Hamilton took his eighth Hungaroring win at the 2020 Hungarian Grand Prix, a tally no other driver has matched at that circuit.

Q: Which team does Hamilton race for at the 2026 Hungarian Grand Prix?
Hamilton races for Ferrari in the 2026 season, returning to a circuit where he has won more often than any other driver.

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