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2004 Season Review



Round 1 - Australia, 7 March 2004

Pole Position:
Winner:
Fastest Lap:
Michael Schumacher (1:24.408)
Michael Schumacher (1:24:15.757)
Michael Schumacher (1:24.125)
The Ferraris blitz the field by taking a 1-2 by more than 21 seconds from final podium finisher Fernando Alonso. Starting from pole position, Schumacher takes the lead and with a close battle between him and Barrichello, he eventually pulls out a 13 second gap after Barrichello begins to have brake problems. Ralf Schumacher finished 4th behind Alonso, followed by Montoya in 5th, after he fought his way back from 7th. Jenson Button finished 6th and was the last driver not to be lapped. Jarno Trulli and David Coulthard were the last drivers to score points.



Round 2 - Malaysia, 21 March 2004

Pole Position:
Winner:
Fastest Lap:
Michael Schumacher (1:33.074)
Michael Schumacher (1:31:07.490)
Juan Pablo Montoya (1:34.223)
Schumacher wins two from two but is followed to the flag by Montoya. Starting in 4th Montoya made the best of a damp, but drying track, by cutting Schumacher's lead down, until the track dried up and Schumacher pulled away slightly. Jenson Button grabbed his first podium of his career followed closely to the line by the second Ferrari of Barrichello. Jarno Trulli, David Coulthard, Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa all grabbed points too.



Round 3 - Bahrain, 4 April 2004

Pole Position:
Winner:
Fastest Lap:
Michael Schumacher (1:30.139)
Michael Schumacher (1:28:34.875)
Michael Schumacher (1:30.252)
The Ferrari drivers once again out-perform the entire field by winning the race by 25.3 seconds from third placed Button. After just 8 laps there was a 7.8 second gap between Barrichello in second and Juan Pablo Montoya in third. Schumacher was leading by 5.3 seconds from Barrichello. Ferrari weren't troubled in the slightest and went on to take their second one-two, and their third win of the season at the inaugural Bahrain Grand Prix. Button got his second podium finish in a row in third with Jarno Trulli in fourth. Takuma Sato, Fernando Alonso, Ralf Schumacher and Mark Webber were the last drivers to finish in the points.



Round 4 - San Marino, 25 April 2004

Pole Position:
Winner:
Fastest Lap:
Jenson Button (1:19.753)
Michael Schumacher (1:26:19.670)
Michael Schumacher (1:20.411)
On the weekend that the FIA announced that they would be bringing in radical rule changes Schumacher looses his 100% record of pole positions to Jenson Button's BAR, but recovers to take the win. At the start Button gets away and leads, but back in second and third Montoya is pushed off track by Schumacher, and he later voices his anger in the press conference. "You've got to be either blind or stupid not to see me," said Montoya. "But you know it is racing." But after the first set of stops Schumacher took off into the distance. He went on to finish 9.7 seconds ahead of Button. Montoya filled the final podium spot, followed home by Fernando Alonso, Jarno Trulli, Rubens Barrichello, Ralf Schumacher and Kimi Räikkönen.



Round 5 - Spain, 9 May 2004

Pole Position:
Winner:
Fastest Lap:
Michael Schumacher (1:15.022)
Michael Schumacher (1:27:32.841)
Michael Schumacher (1:17.450)
At the start Jarno Trulli flew away, "right on the limit of a jump start" he said. He held the lead until lap 9 when he stopped and gave Schumacher a lead that he would never thereafter loose. Schumacher did have problems with his exhaust going into the latter stages of the race, but managed to win by 13 seconds after having to reduce the revs. Juan Pablo Montoya who started alongside Schumacher on the front row had to retire on lap 46 after he had brakes problems. Rubens Barrichello and Jarno Trulli were the other two drivers on the podium. Fernando Alonso, Takuma Sato, Ralf Schumacher, Giancarlo Fisichella and Jenson Button were the other drivers to score points.



Round 6 - Monaco, 23 May 2004

Pole Position:
Winner:
Fastest Lap:
Jarno Trulli (1:13.985)
Jarno Trulli (1:45:46.601)
Michael Schumacher (1:14.439)
The most eventful race of the season so far sees 10 drivers with DNFs including Michael Schumacher. Jarno Trulli takes the victory from pole, beating Button by a very narrow 0.4 seconds. At the start Sato blew his engine and caused Fisichella to run into the back of Coulthard, and the Sauber overturned. Fisichella emerged unscathed, but out of the race. Then on lap 42 Alonso, while lapping Ralf Schumacher in the tunnel, crashed and brought out the safety car. While the safety car was out Schumacher had a bizarre accident in the tunnel. He emerged from the tunnel with his front right wheel up in the air. Replays showed that he braked suddenly and Montoya then crashed into him. Jarno Trulli always looked like winning and he did, with Button behind him, and Barrichello finishing in 3rd. Juan Pablo Montoya, Felipe Massa, Cristiano da Matta, Nick Heidfeld and Olivier Panis all scored points.



Round 7 - Europe, 30 May 2004

Pole Position:
Winner:
Fastest Lap:
Michael Schumacher (1:28.351)
Michael Schumacher (1:32:35.101)
Michael Schumacher (1:29.468)
Schumacher recovers from his shock retirement in Monaco to grab the victory from pole position. But he had to go on a short first stint to ensure that he was to be faster, with the speed of the BAR-Hondas worrying the Italian manufacturer. He flew away from the rest of the field and by lap 7 he had a 17 second lead, and he then took his stop on lap 8, dropping to 7th. By lap 13 there was a Ferrari 1-2 with Barrichello leading, but when he stopped for the first of his two stops Schumacher took the lead, which he never lost. The big talking point of the Grand Prix was the move Sato made on Rubens Barrichello. While going down to turn 1 Sato made an attempt to get past Barrichello, but in the process, collided with him and tore his front wing off. Sato's race was well and truly over when on lap 48 coming around the last turn his engine exploded just like in Monte Carlo. That meant that Barrichello and Button finished on the podium. Jarno Trulli, Fernando Alonso, Giancarlo Fisichella, Mark Webber and Juan Pablo Montoya all finished in the points.



Round 8 - Canada, 13 June 2004

Pole Position:
Winner:
Fastest Lap:
Ralf Schumacher (1:12.275)
Michael Schumacher (1:28:24.803)
Rubens Barrichello (1:13.622)
Originally it was a Schumacher 1-2, with Michael winning the race, but a few hours after the race, stewards found that the Williams and Toyota teams had used illegal brake ducts and were subsequently disqualified. Schumacher won it fair and square in the end, but it was all down to strategy, with Schumacher and Barrichello pitting just twice in comparison to their rivals, who stopped three times. In quite a dull race, there was little excitement, except for the first corner of the race, when Klien and Coulthard got tangled up in each other, but eventually got away, and continued. Ralf Schumacher blasted his way away from pole position, with his brother all the way down in 6th, but he was soon leading when all ahead of him had pitted, by lap 18. By the end of the race Michael had won from Ralf, Barrichello, Button and Montoya. But when the Williams and Toyota drivers were disqualified, Button notched up yet another podium with the Jordan team also gathering some much needed points. The race classification was as follows: Michael Schumacher, Rubens Barrichello, Jenson Button, Giancarlo Fisichella, Kimi Räikkönen, David Coulthard, Timo Glock and Nick Heidfeld.



Round 9 - USA, 20 June 2004

Pole Position:
Winner:
Fastest Lap:
Rubens Barrichello (1:10.223)
Michael Schumacher (1:40:29.914)
Rubens Barrichello (1:10.399)
In a drama and incident packed race, a Ferrari one-two rounded off a very satisfactory weekend for the Italian manufacturer. Even before the race had started, Juan Pablo Montoya had to switch to his spare car but was black-flagged later on in the race, because he had failed to get out of his car 15 before the start of the formation lap. He was deemed to have gotten out 13 seconds before the start of the parade lap, but had to give up his possible podium place. Then on the first corner of the race, 4 drivers were knocked out, after an accident which put Bruni, Pantano, Massa and Klien to the sidelines. Once the safety car had gone after lap 5, Schumacher snatched the lead from Barrichello. On lap 8 Fernando Alonso's race ended when his right rear tyre failed and he went crashing into the wall at the end of the straight. And moments later when Ralf Schumacher was exiting turn 13, he spun and hit the wall backwards, at almost 360 kmph. As he lay in his cockpit motionless, the medics claimed he was ok, and was taken to hospital. The race ended with the Ferraris on top, and with Sato getting his first ever podium. Trulli, Panis, Räikkönen, Coulthard and Baumgartner all scored points. Baumgartner scored the first points for the Minardi since Australia 2002.



Round 10 - France, 4 July 2004

Pole Position:
Winner:
Fastest Lap:
Fernando Alonso (1:13.698)
Michael Schumacher (1:30:18.133)
Michael Schumacher (1:15.377)
Schumacher took his 9th win in 10 races in style as his brilliant 4 stop strategy put him on the top step of the podium. He qualified second behind Alonso's Renault, and took the lead for the first time on lap 38, after Alonso pulled away. But he was able to put in blistering laps between his stints and eventually came out on top by 8 seconds. In quite a boring race Alonso held on for second and on the second last corner on the last lap Barrichello overtook Trulli for the final podium slot. Behind Trulli was Button, Coulthard and Räikkönen. Montoya grabbed the last point, but his hopes for more points were slashed when he spun his Williams-BMW, but managed to get it back on track again.



Round 11 - Britain, 11 July 2004

Pole Position:
Winner:
Fastest Lap:
Kimi Räikkönen (1:18.233)
Michael Schumacher (1:24:42.700)
Michael Schumacher (1:18.739)
On the weekend that Minardi's John Walton passed away, Michael Schumacher took another big step towards his 7th championship. Räikkönen led away from pole until lap 11 when he pitted, and handed the lead over to Schumacher, who never lost P1 from then on. Schumacher pitted 4 laps later on 15, and came out in front, but even at this stage it looked like it would be a pit-crew battle. Both drivers put in blistering lap times, but as it became clear that Schumacher was on a two stop strategy, there seemed to be no way to catch him. But on lap 39 Jarno Trulli's Renault suffered a suspension failure and went rolling into the gravel with his car torn to shreds. The safety car came out and Räikkönen pitted to come out 0.2 seconds behind Schumacher. It was racing to the finish, and Schumacher held out to take another 10 points by 2.1 seconds. Barrichello, Button, Montoya, Fisichella, Coulthard and Webber were the other point scorers in quite a dull encounter.



Round 12 - Germany, 25 July 2004

Pole Position:
Winner:
Fastest Lap:
Michael Schumacher (1:13.306)
Michael Schumacher (1:23:54.848)
Kimi Räikkönen (1:13.780)
Schumacher won, but it was Jenson Button's drive from 13th to 2nd which caught the eye of many commentators. Schumacher led away from Alonso who climbed to 2nd on the first lap from 5th. Räikkönen was second on lap 3 and took the fight to Schumacher and kept within a stone's throw from Schumacher until, on lap 14, a spectacular rear-wing failure put him out of the race. Button led on lap 12, and stayed within striking distance until the end, but was helped by a problem to Alonso's car which saw him slow dramatically, but regained his speed to finish in 3rd. Coulthard finished in 4th, and a disappointing day for Montoya saw him finish 5th, after he had a clutch problem off the start. Webber, Pizzonia and Sato also scored some championship points.



Round 13 - Hungary, 15 August 2004

Pole Position:
Winner:
Fastest Lap:
Michael Schumacher (1:19.146)
Michael Schumacher (1:35:26.131)
Michael Schumacher (1:19.071)
Schumacher took his 12th win of the season, and by doing so, ensured that Ferrari would finish as World Constructors' Champions for the sixth year in succession. At the start some drivers fell victim to the dirty side of the track with the notable drivers being Sato, Pizzonia and Panis. Alonso was one of the few that picked up places, with him jumping to third from fifth by the end of the first lap. The Ferraris dominated the whole race, with Schumacher not loosing his lead, and Barrichello also keeping his second place all the way through the race. With this win, Schumacher broke another record, being the first driver to win 7 races in a row in the same season. Further back the field, Alonso kept his cool to finish third, with Montoya following him home in fourth. In what was quite a dull race, Button, Sato, Pizzonia and Fisichella also picked up points.



Round 14 - Belgium, 29 August 2004

Pole Position:
Winner:
Fastest Lap:
Jarno Trulli (1:56.232)
Kimi Räikkönen (1:32:35.274)
Kimi Räikkönen (1:45.108)
In what was one of the best and most exciting races of the season, Räikkönen took his first and only race win of the season, but couldn't stop Schumacher from ensuring his seventh World Drivers' Championship. The drama began at the start, with a mixed-up grid after the wet qualifying session the day before, when four drivers were taken out while going through Raidillon. Webber, Sato, Bruni and Pantano being the victims. Lap 4 saw one of the best overtaking manoeuvres of the season, with Montoya overtaking Schumacher on the outside going into the Bus Stop. Montoya tried the same on Trulli on lap 19, but couldn't pull it off and Trulli lost four places. On lap 11 Alonso spun out of the lead after a suspected mechanical failure. On lap 29, Button suffered a rear-tyre blow-out, and spun violently at close to 300 km/h, taking the innocent Baumgartner out in the process. Pizzonia retired from third on lap 31, followed by Montoya on lap 37, after a tyre failure. Then on lap 38, Coulthard drove into the back of Klien, while trying to overtake him. He managed to continue, but the incident brought out the safety car, with Räikkönen in the lead from Schumacher. The sprint to the end saw one casualty, being Zonta, who was in fourth. Schumacher finished second, followed by Barrichello, Massa, Fisichella, Klien, Coulthard and Panis.



Round 15 - Italy, 12 September 2004

Pole Position:
Winner:
Fastest Lap:
Rubens Barrichello (1:20.089)
Rubens Barrichello (1:15:18.448)
Rubens Barrichello (1:21.046)
Barrichello started from pole on intermediate tyres on a drying track, and took a 7 second lead by the end of the second lap. But he soon had to pit for dries, after the track was after drying out. Further down the grid, Schumacher, starting from 3rd, collided with Olivier Panis, and was pushed to the back of the field. By lap six, both Ferraris were out of the points, and a win looked almost impossible. But Barrichello and Schumacher kept pushing. On lap 35, Schumacher was leading, but he pitted and Barrichello led. Helped by Alonso's spin on lap 40, which put the Spaniard out of the race, Schumacher climbed his way up to third and then second after overtaking Button on the straight. Earlier on in the race, Panis was knocked out after colliding with Pizzonia, Kimi Räikkönen suffered another engine failure, Bruni retired after a pit-lane fire and Pantano crashed at Parabolica. Button held on to third, Sato, Montoya, Coulthard, Pizzonia and Fisichella also picked up points.



Round 16 - China, 26 September 2004

Pole Position:
Winner:
Fastest Lap:
Rubens Barrichello (1:34.012)
Rubens Barrichello (1:29:12.420)
Michael Schumacher (1:32.238)
Barrichello won again, but this time his team mate was nowhere to be seen. The damage was done in qualifying when he spun his Ferrari coming into the first corner, and thus had to start from the back, when Barrichello was starting from pole. At the start, Barrichello took the lead, as Schumacher started from the pit-lane. Barrichello and Räikkönen pitted from 1st and 2nd, and were back in their original positions on lap 16. The gap was always close, and when Räikkönen pitted again on lap 27, Button took second, jumping to first when Barrichello. Räikkönen stopped again on lap 36, but his three stop strategy was too adventurous, and Button took second place. Barrichello hung on for the win, followed by Button, Räikkönen, Alonso, Montoya, Sato, Fisichella and Massa. Michael Schumacher's eventful race saw him clash with Klien on lap 10, spin on lap 15, and get lapped by Barrichello while he was in the pits.



Round 17 - Japan, 10 October 2004

Pole Position:
Winner:
Fastest Lap:
Michael Schumacher (1:33.542)
Michael Schumacher (1:24:26.985)
Rubens Barrichello (1:32.730)
Schumacher ended his two race winning drought by taking victory in style from his younger brother. The qualifying session was run on Sunday with no track action on Saturday because of a typhoon, but Schumacher senior dominated and took pole. He took the lead from the start, one which he never lost throughout the race. On lap 37, two of the most experienced drivers in F1 collided on the run-down to the casino triangle, thus putting them out of the race. By this point Ralf was drifting away from his brother and, at the flag, was 14 seconds away. Takuma Sato just missed out on a podium in his home country, when he finished in 4th, behind his team mate. Alonso, Räikkönen, Montoya and Fisichella also took points home with them. With this win Schumacher broke the record he set in 2002 for the most amount of wins in a season. His tally now stands at 13.



Round 18 - Brazil, 24 October 2004

Pole Position:
Winner:
Fastest Lap:
Rubens Barrichello (1:10.646)
Juan Pablo Montoya (1:28:01.451)
Juan Pablo Montoya (1:11.473)
The race was started on a damp, but drying track, with most drivers going for intermediate tyres. Barrichello took the lead from the start into turn 1, but was quickly challenged by Räikkönen, who passed him on the run-down to Reta-Oposta. Further back Montoya dropped down to 5th from 2nd, with Alonso and Villeneuve also dropping positions. By lap 4 Barrichello had re-taken the lead, but it was short-lived, as the track began to dry up. Lap 4 saw the first of the stoppers, followed by every other driver running intermediate tyres within a few laps. Alonso was then in the lead, after starting with dries, followed closely by Montoya. But when Alonso pitted, it was clear that the battle for the win was going to be between the two future McLaren team mates, Montoya and Räikönen. Montoya, though, held off to win in style. Barrichello also scored only his second finish at the Brazilian Grand Prix, followed by Alonso, Ralf Schumacher, Sato, Michael Schumacher and Massa. A brilliant race to end the season.
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