Why is the F1 Hungarian GP track layout termed as 'Monaco without walls'

F1 will be heading to Hungary for the 11th round of the championship this weekend. Here's a look at why the Hungaroring, the track which hosts the Hungarian GP, is called 'Monaco without walls.'

The first-ever F1 Hungarian Grand Prix was held in 1986 on the same circuit, which has been the host for the race ever since. The event has been held every single season, being one of the most consistent ones on the calendar. A single lap here measures 4.38 kilometres, and the race is held for 70 laps, making the total race distance to 306.63 kms.

Even though the track is not a street circuit nor a very narrow one, it is still compared with the slow Monaco circuit, for the exact same reason. The Monaco GP is famous for being notoriously difficult to perform overtakes on, especially in the modern, gigantic cars. This is because of the slow speed and narrowness of the track.

While these are not issues with the Hugaroring, it still is hard to overtake at the venue, which is why it is called 'Monaco without walls'.

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Why is it so difficult to overtake at the Hungaroring in F1?

The Hungaroring is the third shortest circuit on the Formula 1 calendar, and at the same time, it is the second-slowest track after Monaco. Top speeds at the track are around 315 km/h (195 mph), even with two consecutive DRS zones.

The track's slowness can be attributed to its tight corners, since it was modeled after the Monaco track.

In 2003, some changes were introduced to make overtaking easier, including increasing the pitlane by 200 metres, and the overall track by around 900 metres. The first corner was also made sharper to encourage overtakes.

Fernando Alonso locks-up while defending from Lewis Hamilton during the 2021 F1 Hungarian Grand Prix (Photo by Lars Baron/Getty Images)

Even though the track features very few overtakes during a race, it is loved by fans and has remained on the calendar ever since the first race in 1986.

Max Verstappen will be the defending champion at the Hungarian GP this year. He finished ahead of Mercedes' pair, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, at the 2022 version of the event.