| 2004 French Grand Prix | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Race 10 of 18 in the2004 Formula One World Championship
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| Race details | |||||
| Date | 4 July 2004 | ||||
| Official name | Formula 1Mobil 1 Grand Prix de France 2004 | ||||
| Location | Magny-Cours,France | ||||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||||
| Course length | 4.411[1] km (2.741 miles) | ||||
| Distance | 70 laps, 308.586[1] km (191.746 miles) | ||||
| Weather | Sunny, 28°C[2] | ||||
| Pole position | |||||
| Driver | Renault | ||||
| Time | 1:13.698 | ||||
| Fastest lap | |||||
| Driver |  Michael Schumacher | Ferrari | |||
| Time | 1:15.377 on lap 32(lap record) | ||||
| Podium | |||||
| First | Ferrari | ||||
| Second | Renault | ||||
| Third | Ferrari | ||||
Lap leaders | |||||
The2004 French Grand Prix (officially known as theFormula 1 Mobil 1 Grand Prix de France 2004)[3] was aFormula One motor race that took place on 4 July 2004 at theCircuit de Nevers Magny-Cours inNevers,France. It was the tenth round of the2004 FIA Formula One World Championship.
Famously, championship leaderMichael Schumacher employed afour-stop strategy to beatRenault'sFernando Alonso andFerrari teammateRubens Barrichello.
The event was held at theCircuit de Nevers Magny-Cours inNevers for the fourteenth time in the circuit's history across the weekend of 2-4 July. The Grand Prix was the tenth round of the2004 Formula One World Championship and the 54th running of theFrench Grand Prix as a round of the Formula One World Championship.[4]
Going into the weekend,Michael Schumacher led the Drivers' Championship with 80 points, 16 points ahead of his teammateRubens Barrichello in second, and 36 ahead ofBAR'sJenson Button in third.[5]Ferrari, with 142 points, led the Constructors' Championship fromRenault with 66 and BAR-Honda with 58 points.[5]
Williams reserve driverMarc Gené replacedRalf Schumacher, following theGerman's back injury at theprevious round. He would also drive in thenext Grand Prix.[6]
Fourfree practice sessions were held for the event. On Friday it rained, but the first session was unsurprisingly topped by theFerraris ofRubens Barrichello andMichael Schumacher. The second session, however, sawToyota'sCristiano da Matta on top, six tenths ahead ofJarno Trulli in theRenault, with Schumacher down in fifth.[2][7]
On Saturday, the sky was clear andMichael Schumacher topped the third session, ahead ofDavid Coulthard in theMcLaren.[8] TheGerman dropped down to third place in the fourth and final session, behind Coulthard's teammateKimi Räikkönen andBAR'sJenson Button.[9]
The bottom 6 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.
| Constructor | Nat | Driver |
|---|---|---|
| BAR-Honda |  | Anthony Davidson |
| Sauber-Petronas | N/A | N/A |
| Jaguar-Cosworth |  | Björn Wirdheim |
| Toyota |  | Ricardo Zonta |
| Jordan-Ford | | Timo Glock |
| Minardi-Cosworth |  | Bas Leinders |
Qualifying on Saturday consisted of two sessions. In the first session, drivers went out one by one in the order in which they classified at the previous race. Each driver was allowed to set one lap time. The result determined the running order in the second session: the fastest driver in the first session was allowed to go last in the second session, which usually provided the benefit of a cleaner track. In the second session, drivers were again allowed to set one lap time, which determined the order on the grid for the race on Sunday, with the fastest driver scoringpole position.[10]
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Q1 Time | Q2 Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 |  Fernando Alonso | Renault | 1:13.750 | 1:13.698 | — |
| 2 | 1 | Michael Schumacher | Ferrari | 1:13.541 | 1:13.971 | +0.273 |
| 3 | 5 | David Coulthard | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:13.649 | 1:13.987 | +0.289 |
| 4 | 9 | Jenson Button | BAR-Honda | 1:13.772 | 1:13.995 | +0.297 |
| 5 | 7 |  Jarno Trulli | Renault | 1:13.949 | 1:14.070 | +0.372 |
| 6 | 3 |  Juan Pablo Montoya | Williams-BMW | 1:13.377 | 1:14.172 | +0.474 |
| 7 | 10 |  Takuma Sato | BAR-Honda | 1:14.130 | 1:14.240 | +0.542 |
| 8 | 4 | Marc Gené | Williams-BMW | 1:14.133 | 1:14.275 | +0.577 |
| 9 | 6 |  Kimi Räikkönen | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:13.736 | 1:14.346 | +0.648 |
| 10 | 2 | Rubens Barrichello | Ferrari | No time1 | 1:14.478 | +0.780 |
| 11 | 16 | Cristiano da Matta | Toyota | 1:14.245 | 1:14.553 | +0.855 |
| 12 | 14 |  Mark Webber | Jaguar-Cosworth | 1:15.332 | 1:14.798 | +1.100 |
| 13 | 15 |  Christian Klien | Jaguar-Cosworth | 1:15.205 | 1:15.065 | +1.367 |
| 14 | 17 |  Olivier Panis | Toyota | 1:14.540 | 1:15.130 | +1.432 |
| 15 | 11 | Giancarlo Fisichella | Sauber-Petronas | 1:15.793 | 1:16.177 | +2.479 |
| 16 | 12 | Felipe Massa | Sauber-Petronas | 1:14.627 | 1:16.200 | +2.502 |
| 17 | 18 | Nick Heidfeld | Jordan-Ford | 1:16.366 | 1:16.807 | +3.109 |
| 18 | 19 | Giorgio Pantano | Jordan-Ford | 1:15.913 | 1:17.462 | +3.764 |
| 19 | 20 | Gianmaria Bruni | Minardi-Cosworth | 1:18.070 | 1:17.913 | +4.215 |
| 20 | 21 |  Zsolt Baumgartner | Minardi-Cosworth | 1:18.108 | 1:18.247 | +4.549 |
Source:[11] | ||||||
Notes
Fernando Alonso andMichael Schumacher kept their positions at the start, whileJarno Trulli took advantage of a slow-startingDavid Coulthard and managed to passJenson Button to take third position. Schumacher kept with Alonso as they tradedfastest laps, until theGermanpitted on the end of lap 11. The leadingRenault managed to continue three more laps and, after his stop, had grown his lead to three seconds.[2][12]
Schumacher stopped for a second time on lap 28 and then set a series of fastest laps, which led to Alonso falling behind him after his stop four laps later. Another stop by theFerrari on lap 42 was a sign of low fuel levels, which explained his superior pace. After Alonso made his third and final stop on lap 45, he rejoined in second place but never managed to match Schumacher's lap times. The gap had opened up to over 20 seconds by lap 57, when the World Champion pitted for a fourth time and returned to the track, still seven seconds ahead of his nearest rival. Schumacher scored his ninth win of the season.[2]
Behind the leading duo,David Coulthard had started third but trouble with the fuel hose on his second stop, dropped him down to eighth, which became sixth at the finish.Jenson Button had started fourth but nearly stalled hisengine at the third stop. This leftRubens Barrichello andJarno Trulli fighting over third place, with theBrazilian getting the upper hand with an audacious overtaking manoeuvre just two corners from the finish line.[2]
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Michael Schumacher | Ferrari | 70 | 1:30:18.133 | 2 | 10 |
| 2 | 8 | Fernando Alonso | Renault | 70 | +8.329 | 1 | 8 |
| 3 | 2 | Rubens Barrichello | Ferrari | 70 | +31.622 | 10 | 6 |
| 4 | 7 | Jarno Trulli | Renault | 70 | +32.082 | 5 | 5 |
| 5 | 9 | Jenson Button | BAR-Honda | 70 | +32.482 | 4 | 4 |
| 6 | 5 | David Coulthard | McLaren-Mercedes | 70 | +35.520 | 3 | 3 |
| 7 | 6 | Kimi Räikkönen | McLaren-Mercedes | 70 | +36.230 | 9 | 2 |
| 8 | 3 | Juan Pablo Montoya | Williams-BMW | 70 | +43.419 | 6 | 1 |
| 9 | 14 | Mark Webber | Jaguar-Cosworth | 70 | +52.394 | 12 | |
| 10 | 4 | Marc Gené | Williams-BMW | 70 | +58.166 | 8 | |
| 11 | 15 | Christian Klien | Jaguar-Cosworth | 69 | +1 lap | 13 | |
| 12 | 11 | Giancarlo Fisichella | Sauber-Petronas | 69 | +1 lap | 15 | |
| 13 | 12 | Felipe Massa | Sauber-Petronas | 69 | +1 lap | 16 | |
| 14 | 16 | Cristiano da Matta | Toyota | 69 | +1 lap | 11 | |
| 15 | 17 | Olivier Panis | Toyota | 68 | +2 laps | 14 | |
| 16 | 18 | Nick Heidfeld | Jordan-Ford | 68 | +2 laps | 17 | |
| 17 | 19 | Giorgio Pantano | Jordan-Ford | 67 | +3 laps | 18 | |
| 18 | 20 | Gianmaria Bruni | Minardi-Cosworth | 65 | Gearbox | 19 | |
| Ret | 21 | Zsolt Baumgartner | Minardi-Cosworth | 31 | Spin | 20 | |
| Ret | 10 | Takuma Sato | BAR-Honda | 15 | Engine | 7 | |
Source:[13] | |||||||
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| Previous race: 2004 United States Grand Prix | FIA Formula One World Championship 2004 season | Next race: 2004 British Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 2003 French Grand Prix | French Grand Prix | Next race: 2005 French Grand Prix |
46°51′51″N3°09′49″E / 46.86417°N 3.16361°E /46.86417; 3.16361
