2004 Australian Grand Prix

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Australia  2004 Australian Grand Prix
Race details
Race 1 of 18 in the 2004 Formula One season
Albert Lake Park Street Circuit in Melbourne, Australia.svg
Date 7 March 2004
Official name LXIX Foster's Australian Grand Prix
Location Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit, Melbourne, Australia
Course Temporary street circuit
Course length 5.303 km (3.295 mi)
Distance 58 laps, 307.574 km (191.118 mi)
Weather Dry & cloudy
Air Temp 20 °C (68 °F)
Attendance 121,500[1]
Pole position
Driver
Ferrari
Time 1:24.408
Fastest lap
Driver Germany Michael Schumacher Ferrari
Time 1:24.125 on lap 29 (lap record)
Podium
First
Ferrari
Second
Ferrari
Third
Renault
Lap leaders

The 2004 Australian Grand Prix was a Formula One race held on 7 March 2004 at the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit. Michael Schumacher won the race for Ferrari from pole position in a very dominant fashion, with his team-mate Rubens Barrichello finishing behind him in second. This one-two finish gave Ferrari a strong 9 point lead in the constructors' standings after just one race. Williams, Renault and BAR gathered points together, while McLaren, a team that had enjoyed success in years preceding this, only managed one point, with David Coulthard finishing a lapped 8th.[2]

Report

Qualifying

Qualifying resulted in a Ferrari one-two, with Juan Pablo Montoya third on the grid for Williams. Gianmaria Bruni, Christian Klien and Olivier Panis all failed to set a qualifying time.[3]

Race

At the start, Alonso was up and away and ahead of Button and looking for a way to deal with Montoya while Jarno Trulli went from ninth on the grid to be fifth out of the first corner. He was aided in his task by Montoya, who went howling down to Turn 1, braked just a hint too late and Montoya was jumped by the Renault of Fernando Alonso as he tried to stay ahead of the surging Alonso. He went off and Alonso had to put some wheels on the grass to avoid a disaster. Montoya went back to seventh. That condemned the Colombian to an afternoon stuck in traffic and put paid to any challenge there might have been for Alonso. Behind all this there were a few wheels off the grass as others sorted themselves out (notably both Saubers) while Takuma Sato bumped the rear end of Trulli's Renault, slightly (but significantly) damaging both cars.

The Ferraris were gone already and as the afternoon developed all that Fernando Alonso could do was to watch the rears of the two red cars as they disappeared from his view. It did not take long. By the fourth lap they were two seconds ahead. By the eighth lap they were five seconds clear and after that Alonso had nothing to do. No-one else could keep up with him. Sauber's Giancarlo Fisichella had a long battle for position in the midfield with Jordan's Nick Heidfeld. Fisichella passed Heidfeld, who later dropped out of the race with a transmission failure. Montoya attempted to regain the place by going around the outside of the Spaniard into the first turn, but outbraked himself and ran wide. This dropped him behind his team-mate Ralf Schumacher, who'd qualified 8th. Despite repassing Ralf Schumacher on-track, the Colombian ended up behind him again by the race's end in fifth place. The race proved that Ferrari once again had a dominant car, with Michael Schumacher winning from team-mate Rubens Barrichello in Ferrari's first one-two since Japan 2002, while the rest of the field was over 20 seconds behind. Schumacher led every one of the 58 race laps.[4] At the start, Montoya was jumped by the Renault of Fernando Alonso.

Fernando Alonso gave Renault a podium with third place, while Jenson Button got BAR off the mark with sixth. Jarno Trulli finished 7th in the Renault and was the first lapped runner. McLaren seemed to be less competitive than in recent years, with Kimi Räikkönen becoming the first retirement of the year, dropping out with an engine problem, and with David Coulthard picking up just 1 point in eighth place.[2]

Classification

Qualifying

Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Time Q2 Time Q2 Gap
1 1 Germany Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:25.301 1:24.408 —
2 2 Brazil Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 1:25.992 1:24.482 +0.074
3 3 Colombia Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW 1:25.226 1:24.998 +0.590
4 9 United Kingdom Jenson Button BAR-Honda 1:25.898 1:24.998 +0.590
5 8 Spain Fernando Alonso Renault 1:25.928 1:25.669 +1.261
6 14 Australia Mark Webber Jaguar-Cosworth 1:26.232 1:25.805 +1.397
7 10 Japan Takuma Sato BAR-Honda 1:26.737 1:25.851 +1.443
8 4 Germany Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW 1:25.445 1:25.925 +1.517
9 7 Italy Jarno Trulli Renault 1:27.357 1:26.290 +1.882
10 6 Finland Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 1:25.592 1:26.297 +1.889
11 12 Brazil Felipe Massa Sauber-Petronas 1:26.833 1:27.065 +2.657
12 5 United Kingdom David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1:25.652 1:27.294 +2.886
13 16 Brazil Cristiano da Matta Toyota 1:28.274 1:27.823 +3.415
14 11 Italy Giancarlo Fisichella Sauber-Petronas 1:26.286 1:27.845 +3.437
15 18 Germany Nick Heidfeld Jordan-Ford 1:27.469 1:28.178 +3.770
16 19 Italy Giorgio Pantano Jordan-Ford 1:29.156 1:30.140 +5.732
17 21 Hungary Zsolt Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth 1:32.606 1:30.681 +6.273
18 17 France Olivier Panis Toyota 1:27.253 no time no time
19 15 Austria Christian Klien Jaguar-Cosworth 1:27.258 no time no time
20 20 Italy Gianmaria Bruni Minardi-Cosworth 1:30.912 no time no time
Sources:[5][6]

Race

Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 1 Germany Michael Schumacher Ferrari 58 1:24:15.757 1 10
2 2 Brazil Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 58 +13.605 2 8
3 8 Spain Fernando Alonso Renault 58 +34.673 5 6
4 4 Germany Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW 58 +1:00.423 8 5
5 3 Colombia Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW 58 +1:08.536 3 4
6 9 United Kingdom Jenson Button BAR-Honda 58 +1:10.598 4 3
7 7 Italy Jarno Trulli Renault 57 +1 Lap 9 2
8 5 United Kingdom David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 57 +1 Lap 12 1
9 10 Japan Takuma Sato BAR-Honda 57 +1 Lap 7
10 11 Italy Giancarlo Fisichella Sauber-Petronas 57 +1 Lap 14
11 15 Austria Christian Klien Jaguar-Cosworth 56 +2 Laps 19
12 16 Brazil Cristiano da Matta Toyota 56 +2 Laps 13
13 17 France Olivier Panis Toyota 56 +2 Laps 18
14 19 Italy Giorgio Pantano Jordan-Ford 55 +3 Laps 16
Ret 12 Brazil Felipe Massa Sauber-Petronas 44 Engine 11
Ret 18 Germany Nick Heidfeld Jordan-Ford 43 Transmission 15
NC 20 Italy Gianmaria Bruni Minardi-Cosworth 43 Not Classified 20
Ret 14 Australia Mark Webber Jaguar-Cosworth 29 Transmission 6
Ret 21 Hungary Zsolt Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth 13 Electrical 17
Ret 6 Finland Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 9 Engine/Spin 10
Source:[7]

Championship standings after the race

  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "McLaren knows its weaknesses" Motorsport.com Retrieved 28 December 2007
  3. ↑ "2004 Australian Grand Prix starting grid" Motorsport.com Retrieved 28 December 2007
  4. ↑ "Dominant Australian GP win for Schumacher" Motorsport.com Retrieved 28 December 2007
  5. ↑ The Official Formula One Season Review 2004
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.


Previous race:
2003 Japanese Grand Prix		 FIA Formula One World Championship
2004 season		 Next race:
2004 Malaysian Grand Prix
Previous race:
2003 Australian Grand Prix		 Australian Grand Prix Next race:
2005 Australian Grand Prix

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