Which teams have the highest success rate in Hungary? What engine has the best reliability on this track? And what happened on August 10th 1997 at 15:40 CET? Marcel Schot brings these answers and more, in the Hungarian Grand Prix edition of 'Facts & Stats'

Five years ago, on August 10th 1997, at 15:40 CET, the unthinkable was about to happen: Damon Hill, reigning World Champion driving for the small Arrows team after having been dumped by Williams, was leading the Hungarian Grand Prix by 35 seconds. Ever since 1978, Arrows were waiting for this first victory.

Of course, there were close calls. Riccardo Patrese retired from the lead at the 1978 South African Grand Prix, the team's only second race. Patrese lead again in Long Beach in 1981 after having scored the team's only pole position, but he retired there as well. Then, Derek Warwick briefly lead in a rainsoaked Canadian Grand Prix in 1989, but he too retired. However, now the first win was in the bag. The lead was huge with just three laps to go and Hill was one of the few drivers who always performed well in Hungary.

Sadly for Hill and Arrows, that was when the daydream ended. First the throttle briefly got stuck and then just about everything went wrong at the same time. The gearbox malfunctioned and the throttle developed a life of its own. Corner by corner the lead faded away as Hill's former teammate Jacques Villeneuve smelled an unexpected victory. Two corners from the end, Villeneuve overtook the crawling Arrows and went away with yet another Williams victory. Since then, Arrows never came close to another opportunity as such.

Since Formula One started visiting the Hungaroring in 1986, Williams has been very dominant indeed. Of the 16 races taken place there, seven were won by Williams and and featured a Williams on the podium. However, the last time a Williams driver finished in the top three was in 1998, when Jacques Villeneuve clinched third.

This weekend can decide the Constructors' Championship. With five rounds left, there's a maximum of 80 points left, which means that Williams need at least a win and a sixth place to be sure Ferrari doesn't grab the title this round. A Ferrari win seals the title, no matter what else happens. However, even if Ferrari win the title with four rounds to go, that still is no record. McLaren sealed the title with five rounds to go in 1988; Williams after secured the crown with four rounds to go in 1992; and Ferrari themselves had a similar accomplishment in last year's Hungarian Grand Prix.

If we take a look at the reliability this year, we see Williams as by far the most reliable team, with over 90% of all kilometers completed. Ferrari comes second, with Ferrari-engined Sauber completing the top three.

The Ferrari reliability deserves special attention, because it shows a big difference between Schumacher (100%) and Barrichello (65.5%). The totals in the below table do not include those events where a driver did not qualify or was disqualified. In these cases, there was no distance to be driven or the driven distance was declared void. If a team did not start by choice - such as Minardi in Spain - this is regarded as driven 0 of a possible 300+ km, since reliability issues played part in the choice not to start.

Team        km   (% of total)
Williams    6624 (91.0%)
Ferrari     6029 (82.8%)
Sauber      5807 (79.7%)
McLaren     5634 (77.4%)
Renault     5497 (75.5%)
Minardi     4535 (71.3%) *1
Jaguar      4918 (67.5%)
Toyota      4906 (67.4%)
Arrows      3980 (65.7%) *2
BAR         4764 (65.4%)
Jordan      4191 (60.1%) *3

For Arrows and Hill, times are very different from 1997. Damon Hill briefly came out of retirement last week to take the wheel of a Minardi two-seater in Donnington. Meanwhile Arrows is struggling harder than ever, announcing they will not be at the next Hungarian Grand Prix. How things change in Formula One...

Past Performance in Hungary by Current Drivers

	1996		1997		1998		1999		2000		2001		Average Qualifying Position
	Qual	Race	Qual	Race	Qual	Race	Qual	Race	Qual	Race	Qual	Race
M.Schumacher	3	1	1	4	3	1	-	-	1	2	1	1	1.800
Barrichello	13	6	11	M	14	M	8	5	5	4	3	2	9.000
Coulthard	9	M	8	M	2	2	3	2	2	3	2	3	4.333
Raikkonen	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	9	7	9.000
R.Schumacher	-	-	14	5	10	9	16	9	4	5	4	4	9.600
Montoya	-	-	-	-	-		-	-	-	-	8	8	8.000
Heidfeld	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	19	M	7	6	13.000
Massa	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Fisichella	-	-	13	R	8	8	4	M	7	M	15	M	9.400
Sato	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Villeneuve	3	1	2	1	6	3	9	M	16	12	10	9	7.666
Panis	11	5	-	-	20	12	14	10	-	-	11	M	14.000
Trulli	-	-	12	7	16	M	13	8	12	7	5	M	11.600
Button	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	8	9	17	R	12.500
Frentzen	10	M	6	M	7	5	5	4	6	6	16	R	8.333
Bernoldi	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	20	R	20.000
Irvine	4	M	5	9	5	M	2	3	10	8	14	R	6.666
de la Rosa	-	-	-	-	-	-	20	15	15	16	13	11	16.000
Davidson	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Webber	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Salo	16	R	21	13	13	M	18	12	9	10	-	-	15.400
McNish	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-