Defending World Champion Hill, who had been having a poor year in the uncompetitive and unreliable Arrows, had led comfortably for most of the race, after qualifying third behind championship challengers Michael Schumacher and Villeneuve. However, a hydraulic failure resulted in Villeneuve passing him on the final lap. It was to be the closest the Arrows team ever came to a Grand Prix victory and would turn out to be their final podium finish.
The win was Villeneuve's fifth of the season and moved him to within three points of Schumacher in the Drivers' Championship, the Ferrari driver having only managed fourth in the race. Shinji Nakano scored his last world championship points at this race.
Hill, as defending world champion, until then had experienced a bad year in the back runner Arrows-Yamaha car and was 17th in overall championship standings. But arriving at Hungary, he set the fifth fastest time on Friday practice after just a single flying lap, after sitting for 55 minutes in the garage while his mechanics tore the gearbox off the car, looking for an electronic sensor problem. Later, Hill qualified in 3rd place behind Villeneuve, with Schumacher claiming pole position. Hill's teammate Pedro Diniz qualified in 19th position.[2]
Damon Hill led most of the race in the Arrows Yamaha
Race
Hill made a strong start from his third position, overtaking Villeneuve, and he then caught race leader Schumacher on lap 6. Schumacher had to use a spare car for the race and soon struggled with the pace all the race long. By then, both drivers had pulled away from the rest of the field. On lap 11, Hill overtook Schumacher, and would eventually be leading the race by over 35 seconds from Villeneuve.
The slow pace of the German driver permitted several drivers to close on him. Mika Hakkinen, one of the drivers chasing Schumacher, retired on lap 12, meanwhile the Ferrari driver would soon pitted for the first of three times on the race. The slow Schumacher permitted Hill to open a reasonable gap to the others behind and never was contested for the lead, specially after a slow pit stop for Jacques Villeneuve.
For most of the race, Coulthard chased Villeneuve closely for second place, being denied with another mechanical retiring. On the other hand, struggling Schumacher formed a trail behind him being chased for his brother Ralf, Shinji Nakano and teammate Eddie Irvine. Yellow lights turned on at Arrows when Pedro Diniz retired with mechanical failure.
On lap 74, with three laps left, the hydraulic pump failed on Hill's car, causing it to become stuck in third gear and have an intermittent throttle. As a result, Hill started losing time and was overtaken by Villeneuve part-way through the final lap. Villeneuve won the race with Hill finishing second, and Johnny Herbert took the third place on the podium. Eddie Irvine, who had passed Nakano for the final point, lost it on last lap for the Japanese driver when his car broke down. [3]
After the race, the problem, which denied Arrows, Bridgestone, and Yamaha their first ever victories (in the case of Arrows and Yamaha, their only ever victories), was diagnosed as a throttle linkage failure, caused by a broken washer worth 50 pence.[4]
Johnny Herbert scored his only podium of the season, while Shinji Nakano equalled his career-best finish of 6th. Gianni Morbidelli returned for Sauber in place of Norberto Fontana after missing three races through injury. Hill's second position also marked the best ever result for Yamaha engines in Formula One.
Heinz-Harald Frentzen
