| 2004 Australian Grand Prix | |||||
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Race 1 of 18 in the2004 Formula One World Championship
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| Race details | |||||
| Date | 7 March 2004 | ||||
| Official name | 2004Foster's Australian Grand Prix | ||||
| Location | Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit,Melbourne,Australia | ||||
| Course | Temporary street circuit | ||||
| Course length | 5.303 km (3.295 miles) | ||||
| Distance | 58 laps, 307.574 km (191.118 miles) | ||||
| Weather | Dry and cloudy Air temperature 20 °C (68 °F) | ||||
| Attendance | 121,500[1] | ||||
| Pole position | |||||
| Driver | Ferrari | ||||
| Time | 1:24.408 | ||||
| Fastest lap | |||||
| Driver |  Michael Schumacher | Ferrari | |||
| Time | 1:24.125 on lap 29(lap record) | ||||
| Podium | |||||
| First | Ferrari | ||||
| Second | Ferrari | ||||
| Third | Renault | ||||
Lap leaders | |||||
The2004 Australian Grand Prix (officially the2004 Foster's Australian Grand Prix)[2] was aFormula One motor race held on 7 March 2004 at theMelbourne Grand Prix Circuit. It was Race 1 of 18 in the2004 FIA Formula One World Championship.Michael Schumacher won the race forFerrari from pole position in dominant fashion,[a] with his teammateRubens Barrichello finishing behind him in second. This 1–2 finish gave Ferrari a strong 9-point lead in the constructors' standings after just one race.Williams andRenault each had both cars finish in the points whileMcLaren, a team that had enjoyed success in years preceding this, only managed one point, withDavid Coulthard finishing a lapped 8th.[5] The 1-2 finish for Schumacher and Barrichello was the first one-two finish for their Ferrari team since the2002 Japanese Grand Prix.[6]
This race marked the first time since the2001 San Marino Grand Prix that cars competed without usingfully-automatic gearboxes andlaunch control,[7][8][9] which were both banned by theFIA after the2003 season.[10][11][12] The use oftraction control was still permitted by the FIA, and would continue to be used over the next three seasons, until being banned for the2008 season.[13]
This race also marked the 150th Grand Prix race for theMcLaren andMercedes engine partnership since 1995 and the F1 debut of Jaguar driver Christian Klien.
The bottom six teams in the2003 Constructors' Championship were entitled to run a third car in free practice on Friday. These drivers drove on Friday but did not compete in qualifying or the race.
Leinders was entered as Third Driver but was refused a superlicence until he completed the required mileage in an F1 car. He satisfied this requirement before the next race.
| Constructor | Nat | Driver |
|---|---|---|
| BAR-Honda |  | Anthony Davidson |
| Sauber-Petronas | - | |
| Jaguar-Cosworth |  | Björn Wirdheim |
| Toyota |  | Ricardo Zonta |
| Jordan-Ford | | Timo Glock |
| Minardi-Cosworth |  | Bas Leinders |
Qualifying resulted in aFerrari one-two, withJuan Pablo Montoya third on the grid forWilliams.Gianmaria Bruni,Christian Klien andOlivier Panis all failed to set a qualifying time.[14]
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 theRenault ofFernando 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'sGiancarlo Fisichella had a long battle for position in the midfield withJordan'sNick Heidfeld. Fisichella passed Heidfeld, who later dropped out of the race with a transmission failure. Heidfeld was involved in an incident in the pit lane where the mechanic Matt Deane and refueller Mick Gomme were hit by the car and suffered some bruising.[15] 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 teammateRalf 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 thatFerrari once again had a dominant car, withMichael Schumacher winning from teammateRubens Barrichello in Ferrari's first one-two sinceJapan 2002, while the rest of the field was over 20 seconds behind. Schumacher led every one of the 58 race laps.[16] At the start, Montoya was jumped by theRenault ofFernando Alonso.
Fernando Alonso gave Renault a podium with third place, whileJenson Button gotBAR 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, withKimi Räikkönen becoming the first retirement of the year, dropping out with an engine problem, and withDavid Coulthard picking up just 1 point in eighth place.[5]
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Q1 Time | Q2 Time | Q2 Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Michael Schumacher | Ferrari | 1:25.301 | 1:24.408 | — |
| 2 | 2 | Rubens Barrichello | Ferrari | 1:25.992 | 1:24.482 | +0.074 |
| 3 | 3 |  Juan Pablo Montoya | Williams-BMW | 1:25.226 | 1:24.998 | +0.590 |
| 4 | 9 | Jenson Button | BAR-Honda | 1:25.898 | 1:24.998 | +0.590 |
| 5 | 8 |  Fernando Alonso | Renault | 1:25.928 | 1:25.669 | +1.261 |
| 6 | 14 |  Mark Webber | Jaguar-Cosworth | 1:26.232 | 1:25.805 | +1.397 |
| 7 | 10 |  Takuma Sato | BAR-Honda | 1:26.737 | 1:25.851 | +1.443 |
| 8 | 4 | Ralf Schumacher | Williams-BMW | 1:25.445 | 1:25.925 | +1.517 |
| 9 | 7 |  Jarno Trulli | Renault | 1:27.357 | 1:26.290 | +1.882 |
| 10 | 6 |  Kimi Räikkönen | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:25.592 | 1:26.297 | +1.889 |
| 11 | 12 | Felipe Massa | Sauber-Petronas | 1:26.833 | 1:27.065 | +2.657 |
| 12 | 5 | David Coulthard | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:25.652 | 1:27.294 | +2.886 |
| 13 | 16 | Cristiano da Matta | Toyota | 1:28.274 | 1:27.823 | +3.415 |
| 14 | 11 | Giancarlo Fisichella | Sauber-Petronas | 1:26.286 | 1:27.845 | +3.437 |
| 15 | 18 | Nick Heidfeld | Jordan-Ford | 1:27.469 | 1:28.178 | +3.770 |
| 16 | 19 | Giorgio Pantano | Jordan-Ford | 1:29.156 | 1:30.140 | +5.732 |
| 17 | 21 |  Zsolt Baumgartner | Minardi-Cosworth | 1:32.606 | 1:30.681 | +6.273 |
| 18 | 17 |  Olivier Panis | Toyota | 1:27.253 | No time1 | |
| 19 | 15 |  Christian Klien | Jaguar-Cosworth | 1:27.258 | No time2 | |
| 20 | 20 | Gianmaria Bruni | Minardi-Cosworth | 1:30.912 | No time2 | |
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Michael Schumacher | Ferrari | 58 | 1:24:15.757 | 1 | 10 |
| 2 | 2 | Rubens Barrichello | Ferrari | 58 | +13.605 | 2 | 8 |
| 3 | 8 | Fernando Alonso | Renault | 58 | +34.673 | 5 | 6 |
| 4 | 4 | Ralf Schumacher | Williams-BMW | 58 | +1:00.423 | 8 | 5 |
| 5 | 3 | Juan Pablo Montoya | Williams-BMW | 58 | +1:08.536 | 3 | 4 |
| 6 | 9 | Jenson Button | BAR-Honda | 58 | +1:10.598 | 4 | 3 |
| 7 | 7 | Jarno Trulli | Renault | 57 | +1 Lap | 9 | 2 |
| 8 | 5 | David Coulthard | McLaren-Mercedes | 57 | +1 Lap | 12 | 1 |
| 9 | 10 | Takuma Sato | BAR-Honda | 57 | +1 Lap | 7 | |
| 10 | 11 | Giancarlo Fisichella | Sauber-Petronas | 57 | +1 Lap | 14 | |
| 11 | 15 | Christian Klien | Jaguar-Cosworth | 56 | +2 Laps | 19 | |
| 12 | 16 | Cristiano da Matta | Toyota | 56 | +2 Laps | 13 | |
| 13 | 17 | Olivier Panis | Toyota | 56 | +2 Laps | 18 | |
| 14 | 19 | Giorgio Pantano | Jordan-Ford | 55 | +3 Laps | 16 | |
| Ret | 12 | Felipe Massa | Sauber-Petronas | 44 | Engine | 11 | |
| Ret | 18 | Nick Heidfeld | Jordan-Ford | 43 | Transmission | 15 | |
| NC | 20 | Gianmaria Bruni | Minardi-Cosworth | 43 | +15 Laps | 20 | |
| Ret | 14 | Mark Webber | Jaguar-Cosworth | 29 | Transmission | 6 | |
| Ret | 21 | Zsolt Baumgartner | Minardi-Cosworth | 13 | Electrical | 17 | |
| Ret | 6 | Kimi Räikkönen | McLaren-Mercedes | 9 | Engine/Spin | 10 | |
Source:[19] | |||||||
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| 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 |
37°50′59″S144°58′06″E / 37.84972°S 144.96833°E /-37.84972; 144.96833
