When Formula 1 raced on in August

Formula 1 is currently enjoying an enforced summer break, mandated by the FIA Sporting Regulations since 2005, with the teams choosing to take the two weeks between the Belgian Grand Prix and Dutch Grand Prix off. Before then, there wasn't an obligatory pause in August: also because the calendar had never exceeded 17 rounds and the championship usually finished at the end of October (or first weekend of November at the latest). Now though we have a calendar containing well in excess of 20 grands prix – there should in fact have been 24 this year, and the same number is expected next year. So it's essential for all the teams to catch their breath in the middle of the season however they can.

Yet that wasn't always the case. On six occasions between 1971 and 2004, there were grands prix held on Sunday August 15 at the height of the holidays: three times in Austria (1971, 1976 and 1982) and three times in Hungary (1993, 1999 and 2004). Here's a snapshot of what happened….

This grand prix became more famous for the number of drivers who didn't finish rather than those who did. Swiss driver Jo Siffert dominated at the Osterreichring, completing the grand slam in his BRM: pole position, victory, and fastest lap (he led every lap as well). Siffert claimed his second and final grand prix win ahead of Emerson Fittipaldi (Lotus-Ford) and Tim Schenken (Brabham-Ford). with Schenken sealing his only Formula 1 podium.

As was often the case in those days, not many drivers crossed the finish line: only 12 of the 22 starters got to the end, while only seven managed to complete all 54 scheduled laps. Among the retirements was Tyrrell driver Jackie Stewart – but that didn't stop him from becoming world champion for the second time after his key rival, Ferrari's Jacky Ickx, also retired. Joining them on the sidelines was a very young Austrian driver, Andreas Nikolaus Lauda, making his F1 debut at his home race in a March. This was Lauda's only appearance in 1971, but from the following year he began to make his mark on the sport: beginning a career that would see him become a three-time world champion as well as one of the most charismatic characters in the paddock.

Five years later at Zeltweg, the home hero and current world champion – of course we're talking about Niki Lauda again – wasn't actually on the grid. He had only left hospital a week earlier following his terrible accident at the Nurburgring, which would leave him scarred for life. Not only was the leader of the drivers' championship out of action but his team, Ferrari, was also absent, in protest at the FIA's decision to reinstate James Hunt in the Spanish Grand Prix results three months earlier. Hunt was Lauda's main adversary both on and off the track (as depicted in the recent ‘Rush' movie) and in Austria he was presented with a golden opportunity to close the championship gap. Hunt took pole but finished a rain-delayed race only in fourth: on the top step of the podium was Northern Irishman John Watson, giving the Ford-powered Penske team its first and only Formula 1 win – which is still the last victory for an American team in Formula 1. Joining him on the podium was Jacques Laffite (Ligier-Matra) and Gunnar Nilsson (Lotus-Ford). The price of victory for Watson was a clean shave: he had to remove his beard following a bet with team principal Roger Penske. The Formula 1 career of Lella Lombardi also ended in Zeltweg: the second (and last) woman to take part in a world championship grand prix – and still the only woman to have achieved a points finish, with sixth place at the 1975 Spanish Grand Prix.

Six years later, the Austrian Grand Prix returned to racing on Sunday August 15 once more; again after a dramatic weekend in Germany.  This time it wasn't at the Nurburgring but instead in Hockenheim where, in Saturday's free practice, Didier Pironi's Ferrari collided with Alain Prost's Renault, flew into the air and fell heavily back down to earth, practically destroying itself. Pironi was seriously injured and so Ferrari went to Zeltweg with just one driver – Patrick Tambay  – who in turn had only arrived after Imola to replace the late Gilles Villeneuve. With four races to go, this was an opportunity for rivals to close the gap to Pironi in the championship, and Keke Rosberg took full advantage. The ‘flying Finn' finished second by a hair's breadth to Lotus driver Elio de Angelis, but over the rest of the season Rosberg managed to accumulate enough points to become world champion with Williams. In Austria, Tambay took a solid fourth place, bringing home three valuable points that would eventually help Ferrari to seal the constructors' title.

Victory for De Angelis was largely unexpected as Lotus was still using the naturally aspirated Ford engine, with its turbocharged rivals enjoying a performance advantage. But not always: Rosberg and Talbot driver Jacques Laffite (third in Austria) also had non turbocharged cars.

In 1986, Formula 1 crossed the Iron Curtain and planted its flag at the Hungaroring: a tight and twisty track where overtaking is a rare commodity. It's still on the calendar now, and since the very start the race has always been held in the middle of summer, taking the place of Austria as a mid-August classic. In 1993 the Berlin Wall fell, the Soviet Union collapsed and Budapest was looking more and more like a Western capital but there was still a feeling in the air back then of being somewhere more exotic: both because of the strange language and the fact that fans often came from all over, such as Finland and Poland, attracted by the cheap prices. The 1993 season, like the previous one, was a year of absolute domination by Williams, with Alain Prost – back after a sabbatical year – set for the fourth world title of his illustrious career. The Frenchman arrived in Budapest with seven victories from the first 10 races of the season: Ayrton Senna (with three wins) was his only realistic rival. But in Hungary, neither would score: Senna retired on lap 17 and Prost finished 12^th and last, after losing seven laps following a stall on the parade lap and repairs to his rear wing.

Prost's teammate, Damon Hill, took advantage of the chaos and won his first grand prix, beating Benetton's Riccardo Patrese and Ferrari driver Gerhard Berger. Hill would also go on to win the next two races (Spa and Monza): the launchpad for a career that would eventually lead him to the world title in 1996. As a result, the sport had its first father and son driver duo to win the world championship: Damon's father Graham won in 1962 with BRM and again in 1968 with Lotus, while Damon himself would do it with another fabled English team, Williams.

In 1999, Formula 1 arrived in Hungary with a completely unexpected championship leader. The fact that he was in a Ferrari was less of a surprise, as the Prancing Horse had been a championship contender for the past three years, but nobody thought that it would be the team's number two driver – Northern Irishman Eddie Irvine – leading the way. Irvine's lead was the consequence of unfortunate events, with Michael Schumacher breaking his leg in Silverstone, but it made the Ulsterman the de facto team leader. He reacted well: having already won the opening race of the season in Australia, Irvine went on to win two consecutive races in Austria and Germany and so came to Budapest with an eight point lead over McLaren's Mika Hakkinen. The defending champion took pole in qualifying but Irvine wasn't far behind and joined him on the front row. Hakkinen made a great start and maintained his advantage, claiming a relatively untroubled win. Irvine's main concern was defending second place from the other McLaren David Coulthard, and the Northern Irishman looked set to have it in the bag until making a mistake on lap 63 of 77 that let his Scottish rival past. And that was really the point at which the Ferrari driver's championship dream began to crumble. He nonetheless headed to the final race of the year at Suzuka still leading the standings – but that's another story….

The last mid-August Grand Prix was held in 2004; a season that was very much marked by the red of Ferrari. Michael Schumacher had won 11 of the 12 races held up to that point, defeated only by Jarno Trulli in Monaco. A year earlier, Michael and Ferrari had been thrashed at the Hungaroring by Fernando Alonso and Renault, and although Michael was largely unopposed in 2004, he was still hungry for revenge. Michael was on fire: he claimed pole ahead of his team mate Rubens Barrichello and that's there they stayed. The two Ferraris, separated by less than five seconds, crossed the line 44 seconds ahead of Alonso in third. With this success, Ferrari secured the constructors' title (for the sixth time in a row) and the mathematical certainty that one of its two drivers would become drivers' champion: the deal was sealed two weeks later at Spa, when Michael became world champion for the seventh time in his career by finishing second to Kimi Raikkonen at the Belgian Grand Prix. Ferrari had already won the titles in Budapest three years earlier and so everyone expected the celebrations to take place in the Hungarian capital once more, but team principal Jean Todt had a different idea: he wanted the party to take place in Maranello together with the entire team, so he hastily organised a reception for around 1000 people at the Fiorano track the following day. There were a number of people who would have preferred to party on the banks of the Danube instead – but nobody dared question the boss's choice...