| 2004 Belgian Grand Prix | |||||
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Race 14 of 18 in the2004 Formula One World Championship
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| Race details | |||||
| Date | 29 August 2004 | ||||
| Official name | Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix 2004 | ||||
| Location | Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps,Francorchamps,Wallonia,Belgium | ||||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||||
| Course length | 6.976 km (4.335 miles) | ||||
| Distance | 44 laps, 306.927 km (190.716 miles) | ||||
| Weather | Dry with temperatures reaching up to 15 °C (59 °F)[1] | ||||
| Pole position | |||||
| Driver | Renault | ||||
| Time | 1:56.232 | ||||
| Fastest lap | |||||
| Driver |  Kimi Räikkönen | McLaren-Mercedes | |||
| Time | 1:45.108 on lap 42(lap record) | ||||
| Podium | |||||
| First | McLaren-Mercedes | ||||
| Second | Ferrari | ||||
| Third | Ferrari | ||||
Lap leaders | |||||
The2004 Belgian Grand Prix (formally theFormula 1 Belgian Grand Prix 2004)[2] was aFormula Onemotor race held on 29 August 2004, at theCircuit de Spa-Francorchamps, near the village ofFrancorchamps,Wallonia,Belgium. It was Race 14 of 18 in the2004 FIA Formula One World Championship.
The race was contested over 44 laps and was won byKimi Räikkönen, taking his andMcLaren's only race win of the season from tenth place on the grid. Second place went toMichael Schumacher, who won his seventh and final world championship, after beating third-placedRubens Barrichello.
Jarno Trulli started frompole position alongside Schumacher. The race saw many changes of the lead, but following several fortuitoussafety cars, Räikkönen was leading the race for the final few laps.Mark Webber triggered a pile-up at the start, eliminating four cars and damaging several others, although he did admit his mistake later. The race sawChristian Klien score his first championship points, andOlivier Panis and the Jaguar team their last.
Heading into the 14th race of the season,Michael Schumacher, driving for theFerrari team, was leading theDrivers' Championship by 38 points from teammateRubens Barrichello.Jenson Button, driving forBAR, was in third place, but only Schumacher and Barrichello could mathematically win the championship.Ferrari had sealed theConstructors' Championship atthe previous race,[3] but the battle for second in the Championship, betweenRenault andBAR, was still fierce.
However, the biggest story was the controversy surrounding Button's drive for 2005. Ten days before the Hungarian Grand Prix, Button chose to leave BAR and signed a two-year contract to return toWilliams.[4] This was surprising, as Button was enjoying his best season to date, while Williams had been struggling.[5] BAR, however, insisted they had the right to exercise their option to keep Button. Button's management argued that the BAR option was not valid because it contained a clause allowing him to leave if BAR risked losing their Honda engines. They felt the new contract signed in the summer for Honda to supply engines to BAR was not definitive, and thus Button was free to move.[5][6]
With regard to the Spa circuit itself, the race did not take place in 2003 so that modifications to theBus Stop chicane could be completed. Pundits were very critical of the changes to the chicane: namely, a sweeping right-hand bend has been introduced just before it. This left a huge piece of green-coloured tarmac, causingMartin Brundle to be very scathing of it during qualifying, stating "you could hold an entire kart meeting in there, including transporters and trucks!"[7][8]
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 | - | |
| Jaguar-Cosworth |  | Björn Wirdheim |
| Toyota |  | Ryan Briscoe |
| Jordan-Ford |  | Timo Glock |
| Minardi-Cosworth |  | Bas Leinders |
Four practice sessions were held before qualifying – two 60-minute sessions on Friday, 27 August, and two 45-minute sessions on Saturday, 28 August.[9] All teams, with the exception of Ferrari,Williams, McLaren, andRenault, were permitted to run three drivers on Friday.[9]Anthony Davidson, the third driver for BAR, set the quickest time in the first practice session, 1:45.104.[10] Räikkönen set the fastest time in practice two.[11] Saturday practice one was cancelled due to fog,[12] and Barrichello set the quickest time in Saturday practice two, shortened from 45 to 30 minutes as a result of the fog that had cancelled practice one.[13] Saturday's second practice session saw two major excursions fromAntônio Pizzonia andGianmaria Bruni, the latter causing the session to be red-flagged.[7]
Qualifying was split into two sections. In the first session, dubbed "pre-qualifying", each driver took turns to record one lap at a time. The order the cars ran in was the reverse order to the classified results at the2004 Hungarian Grand Prix. For example,Michael Schumacher won the race, so would be the last car to run in pre-qualifying. The second qualifying session (dubbed "qualifying") repeated this process (with the drivers running in reverse order to the pre-qualifying results), but with the caveat that the drivers would not be allowed to alter their fuel loads between then and the race. The fastest time in the second session would take pole. As in 2003, setups and fuel loads could not be altered between the end of the second qualifying session and the race.[9] In pre-qualifying,Ricardo Zonta, driving forToyota, spun off atPouhon corner, leading him to collide with the tyre wall.[7] The second part of qualifying started as being very wet but quickly dried out, enablingJarno Trulli to switch to intermediate tyres,[14] enabling him to set the fastest lap time. Schumacher qualified second. The conditions did not suitJenson Button, who had run on wet tyres when the track was ready for intermediates, andJuan Pablo Montoya, who did his qualifying lap on intermediates as it began to rain.
Trulli's Renault had a good start frompole position, but second-placed Schumacher'sFerrari did not, and he lost positions toFernando Alonso's Renault andDavid Coulthard'sMcLaren. AtLa Source,Mark Webber'sJaguar collided with Barrichello's Ferrari, causing Webber to lose his front wing and Barrichello to suffer rear wing damage. In a separate incident, Räikkönen's McLaren made contact withFelipe Massa'sSauber, which caused Massa to lose his front wing. In a third incident,Nick Heidfeld'sJordan andOlivier Panis'sToyota made contact. Going intoEau Rouge, Webber was side-by-side withTakuma Sato'sBAR, and they collided in the middle of the corner whilst they were overtaken by Montoya'sWilliams. The contact broke Sato's left rear suspension and Webber's front right suspension. Sato consequently spun in the middle of the track. The rest of the field attempted to avoid the spinning BAR, but in doing so,Zsolt Baumgartner andGianmaria Bruni, both driving forMinardi, made contact, putting Bruni out of the race and getting him hit byGiorgio Pantano's Jordan. Sato, Webber, Bruni, and Pantano were out of the race. A small fire on Bruni's car, caused by the contact with Pantano, forced thesafety car to come out. During this time, Button, Massa, Barrichello, Heidfeld, Baumgartner, andOlivier Panis stopped for repairs caused by debris. Massa and Barrichello stopped twice.
The safety car came in at the end of lap four and Trulli led Alonso and Coulthard. Räikkönen overtook Schumacher for fifth position and Button overtookRicardo Zonta's Toyota. Schumacher continued to be slow, losing 1.1 seconds to Räikkönen in the middle sector on lap five, enabling Montoya to overtake him around the outside of theBus Stop chicane on lap five. On lap six, Räikkönen overtook his teammate, Coulthard, for third, going up the inside at theLes Combes chicane. On lap eight, Barrichello overtook Baumgartner and Heidfeld, putting him into 14th place.Christian Klien, in the sole remaining Jaguar, was the first driver to make a scheduledpit stop, on lap nine, and race leader Trulli made a pit stop on lap 10, rejoining in ninth place. Alonso now led the race, but on lap 12 he had an oil leak and spun twice atLes Combes, losing the lead to Räikkönen. He managed to rejoin, but he then had a further spin atRivage for the same reason and could not rejoin. On the same lap Coulthard had a rear tyre de-lamination, but he made it back to pit lane. Räikkönen stopped at the end of lap 13. Montoya now led the race from Schumacher, until Montoya pitted on lap 15. Montoya left the pit lane behind Massa, losing time while overtaking him. Schumacher pitted one lap later and leapfrogged Montoya. New leader Pizzonia came into the pits on lap 17. Räikkönen now led from Button in second, Trulli in third, and Schumacher in fourth, but Schumacher was able to overcome Trulli on lap 19.
Giancarlo Fisichella'sSauber ran wide on lap 20 and lost parts of his front wing. On the same lap, Montoya attempted to repeat his earlier overtake on Trulli, but the pair collided, putting Trulli into a spin. Trulli lost several places, and Montoya lost fourth place to his teammate, Pizzonia. Button pitted on lap 21, rejoining in seventh, behind the battling Fischella and Barrichello. Barrichello then took fifth place on lap 22, as Trulli made a second pit stop, having been passed by Panis. Button was also able to pass Fisichella for sixth position on lap 23, as Barrichello pitted. Räikkönen pitted on lap 29, rejoining in second position, while Schumacher still had to stop. Montoya pitted on the same lap as Räikkönen. On lap 31, Button suffered a right rear tyre de-lamination similar to Coulthard's, at approximately 205 mph (330 km/h),[15] pitching him into a spin. As a result, he crashed into the Minardi of Baumgartner, who was being lapped, putting both drivers out of the race and bringing out asafety car. Schumacher, Pizzonia, and Heidfeld took the opportunity to pit behind the safety car.
Still behind the safety car, on lap 32, Pizzonia retired due to a gearbox problem. Räikkönen led the race from Schumacher, Montoya, Barrichello, and Zonta, who started last. At the restart on lap 34, Klien overtook Panis for eighth place and one point, as Coulthard overtook Trulli for tenth place. One lap later, Coulthard overtook Panis for ninth. On lap 36, Montoya's rear right tyre de-laminated, forcing him to retire.
On lap 38, Coulthard attempted to overtake Klien for seventh place, but contact between the two drivers meant Coulthard needed a new front wing after it broke loose, with parts of it becoming stuck in the rear of the McLaren's bodywork. The resulting debris caused the safety car to come out again. The safety car came in at the end of lap 41, but just four corners later, fourth-placed Zonta's engine blew up spectacularly, putting him out of the race. On the penultimate lap, Coulthard overtook Panis for seventh.
Räikkönen won the race, his first and only victory of 2004. Schumacher finished second, with teammate Barrichello third. The result gave Schumacher his seventh and last World Drivers' Championship.
At the2005 British Grand Prix,Daily Express editor Bob McKenzie honoured a pledge that he would run naked aroundSilverstone ifMcLaren won a race in 2004.[16]
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Q1 Time | Q2 Time | Gap | Grid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 |  Jarno Trulli | Renault | 1:58.606 | 1:56.232 | — | 1 |
| 2 | 1 | Michael Schumacher | Ferrari | 1:53.755 | 1:56.304 | +0.072 | 2 |
| 3 | 8 |  Fernando Alonso | Renault | 1:58.242 | 1:56.686 | +0.454 | 3 |
| 4 | 5 | David Coulthard | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:56.994 | 1:57.990 | +1.758 | 4 |
| 5 | 11 | Giancarlo Fisichella | Sauber-Petronas | 1:56.068 | 1:58.040 | +1.808 | 5 |
| 6 | 2 |  Rubens Barrichello | Ferrari | 1:54.913 | 1:58.175 | +1.943 | 6 |
| 7 | 14 | Mark Webber | Jaguar-Cosworth | 1:59.437 | 1:58.729 | +2.497 | 7 |
| 8 | 12 | Felipe Massa | Sauber-Petronas | 1:56.057 | 1:59.008 | +2.776 | 8 |
| 9 | 17 |  Olivier Panis | Toyota | 2:01.472 | 1:59.552 | +3.320 | 9 |
| 10 | 6 | Kimi Räikkönen | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:55.371 | 1:59.635 | +3.403 | 10 |
| 11 | 3 |  Juan Pablo Montoya | Williams-BMW | 1:56.842 | 1:59.681 | +3.449 | 11 |
| 12 | 9 | Jenson Button | BAR-Honda | 1:58.837 | 2:00.237 | +4.005 | 12 |
| 13 | 15 |  Christian Klien | Jaguar-Cosworth | 1:59.997 | 2:01.246 | +5.014 | 13 |
| 14 | 4 | Antônio Pizzonia | Williams-BMW | 1:59.100 | 2:01.447 | +5.215 | 14 |
| 15 | 10 |  Takuma Sato | BAR-Honda | 1:58.929 | 2:01.813 | +5.581 | 15 |
| 16 | 18 | Nick Heidfeld | Jordan-Ford | 2:00.166 | 2:02.645 | +6.413 | 16 |
| 17 | 20 | Gianmaria Bruni | Minardi-Cosworth | 2:03.226 | 2:02.651 | +6.419 | 17 |
| 18 | 21 |  Zsolt Baumgartner | Minardi-Cosworth | 2:01.195 | 2:03.303 | +7.071 | 18 |
| 19 | 19 | Giorgio Pantano | Jordan-Ford | 1:59.442 | 2:03.833 | +7.601 | 19 |
| 20 | 16 | Ricardo Zonta | Toyota | No time | 2:03.895 | +7.663 | 20 |
Source:[17] | |||||||
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | Kimi Räikkönen | McLaren-Mercedes | 44 | 1:32:35.274 | 10 | 10 |
| 2 | 1 | Michael Schumacher | Ferrari | 44 | +3.132 | 2 | 8 |
| 3 | 2 | Rubens Barrichello | Ferrari | 44 | +4.371 | 6 | 6 |
| 4 | 12 | Felipe Massa | Sauber-Petronas | 44 | +12.504 | 8 | 5 |
| 5 | 11 | Giancarlo Fisichella | Sauber-Petronas | 44 | +14.104 | 5 | 4 |
| 6 | 15 | Christian Klien | Jaguar-Cosworth | 44 | +14.614 | 13 | 3 |
| 7 | 5 | David Coulthard | McLaren-Mercedes | 44 | +17.970 | 4 | 2 |
| 8 | 17 | Olivier Panis | Toyota | 44 | +18.693 | 9 | 1 |
| 9 | 7 | Jarno Trulli | Renault | 44 | +22.115 | 1 | |
| 10 | 16 | Ricardo Zonta | Toyota | 41 | Engine | 20 | |
| 11 | 18 | Nick Heidfeld | Jordan-Ford | 40 | +4 Laps | 16 | |
| Ret | 3 | Juan Pablo Montoya | Williams-BMW | 37 | Tyre | 11 | |
| Ret | 4 | Antônio Pizzonia | Williams-BMW | 31 | Gearbox | 14 | |
| Ret | 9 | Jenson Button | BAR-Honda | 29 | Tyre/Collision | 12 | |
| Ret | 21 | Zsolt Baumgartner | Minardi-Cosworth | 28 | Collision | 18 | |
| Ret | 8 | Fernando Alonso | Renault | 11 | Engine/Spin | 3 | |
| Ret | 14 | Mark Webber | Jaguar-Cosworth | 0 | Collision damage | 7 | |
| Ret | 10 | Takuma Sato | BAR-Honda | 0 | Collision | 15 | |
| Ret | 20 | Gianmaria Bruni | Minardi-Cosworth | 0 | Collision/Fire | 17 | |
| Ret | 19 | Giorgio Pantano | Jordan-Ford | 0 | Collision | 19 | |
Source:[18] | |||||||
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Trulli sets pole on intermediates.
| Previous race: 2004 Hungarian Grand Prix | FIA Formula One World Championship 2004 season | Next race: 2004 Italian Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 2002 Belgian Grand Prix | Belgian Grand Prix | Next race: 2005 Belgian Grand Prix |
50°26′14″N5°58′17″E / 50.43722°N 5.97139°E /50.43722; 5.97139
