2004 Australian Grand Prix

The 2004 Australian Grand Prix (officially the 2004 Foster's Australian Grand Prix ) [ 2 ] was a Formula One motor race held on 7 March 2004 at the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit . It was Race 1 of 18 in the 2004 FIA Formula One World Championship . Michael Schumacher won the race for Ferrari from pole position in dominant fashion, [ a ] with his teammate Rubens Barrichello finishing behind him in second. This 1–2 finish gave Ferrari a strong 9-point lead in the constructors' standings after just ...

Friday drivers

The bottom six teams in the 2003 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.

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. Th...

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 Heidfel...

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. [ 5 ]

References

37°50′59″S 144°58′06″E / 37.84972°S 144.96833°E / -37.84972; 144.96833

Quick Facts

2004 Australian Grand Prix Race 1 of 18 in the 2004 Formula One World Championship← Previous raceNext race →

2004 Australian Grand Prix ← Previous race

2004 Australian Grand Prix nan

2004 Australian Grand Prix Race details

2004 Australian Grand Prix Date

2004 Australian Grand Prix Official name

2004 Australian Grand Prix Location

2004 Australian Grand Prix Course

2004 Australian Grand Prix Course length

2004 Australian Grand Prix Distance

Table 1

Constructor	Nat	Driver
BAR-Honda	nan	Anthony Davidson
Sauber-Petronas	nan	-
Jaguar-Cosworth	nan	Björn Wirdheim
Toyota	nan	Ricardo Zonta
Jordan-Ford	nan	Timo Glock
Minardi-Cosworth	nan	Bas Leinders

Table 2

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Q1 Time	Q2 Time
1	1	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	1:25.301	1:24.408
2	2	Rubens Barrichello	Ferrari	1:25.992	1:24.482
3	3	Juan Pablo Montoya	Williams-BMW	1:25.226	1:24.998
4	9	Jenson Button	BAR-Honda	1:25.898	1:24.998
5	8	Fernando Alonso	Renault	1:25.928	1:25.669
6	14	Mark Webber	Jaguar-Cosworth	1:26.232	1:25.805
7	10	Takuma Sato	BAR-Honda	1:26.737	1:25.851
8	4	Ralf Schumacher	Williams-BMW	1:25.445	1:25.925
9	7	Jarno Trulli	Renault	1:27.357	1:26.290
10	6	Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:25.592	1:26.297

Table 3

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired
1	1	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	58	1:24:15.757
2	2	Rubens Barrichello	Ferrari	58	+13.605
3	8	Fernando Alonso	Renault	58	+34.673
4	4	Ralf Schumacher	Williams-BMW	58	+1:00.423
5	3	Juan Pablo Montoya	Williams-BMW	58	+1:08.536
6	9	Jenson Button	BAR-Honda	58	+1:10.598
7	7	Jarno Trulli	Renault	57	+1 Lap
8	5	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes	57	+1 Lap
9	10	Takuma Sato	BAR-Honda	57	+1 Lap
10	11	Giancarlo Fisichella	Sauber-Petronas	57	+1 Lap

F1ABY Commentary

A curious thing, isn’t it, this relentless pursuit of speed? The Melbourne crowd, a sea of scarlet, anticipates not merely victory, but a reaffirmation of a lineage stretching back to the earliest days of motorsport. Schumacher, predictably, extracts every ounce of performance from his machine, a testament to Ferrari’s engineering prowess – a tradition mirroring the struggles and triumphs of those early pioneers. This 1-2 represents more than just a lead in the constructors’ championship; it speaks to a continuing narrative, a contest between established power and the relentless drive for innovation. The Williams’s, languishing in the midfield, offer a stark reminder that momentum, like a finely tuned engine, can swiftly diminish. One observes a familiar dance – the titans asserting their dominance, while the rest of the field battles to remain relevant. The Australian Grand Prix, as always, proves a potent crucible.

The trajectory of motorsport, it seems, has always been defined by the ascendance of giants. Schumacher and Barrichello, securing a decisive 1–2 for Ferrari, echo the very foundations of this sport – a demonstration of engineering and driver prowess that mirrors the legendary battles of Fangio and Ascari, establishing a new benchmark for dominance. This victory, sharp and immediate, foreshadows a season where Ferrari would wrestle control of the championship from McLaren, a pattern repeated across eras of intense competition.

F1ABY Trivia

The air hung thick with the scent of high-octane fuel and anticipation as Schumacher’s Ferrari, a 2004 F1-RB7 chassis powered by a 3. 0-liter V10 engine, surged ahead. That McLaren, the MP4-19, struggled to keep pace, a testament to the evolving dominance of Ferrari’s engine development – a 3. 0-liter unit generating approximately 840 horsepower at its peak. Barrichello’s consistent second place solidified Ferrari’s early advantage, a strategic declaration of intent for the season. The Williams team, running the WR9, faced a difficult race, hampered by tire degradation.

The rain, a persistent, sullen grey, seemed determined to disrupt the rhythm of Albert Park. Schumacher’s Ferrari, a machine sculpted for speed, carved through the damp asphalt with a precision that spoke of a dominance already established. It’s a compelling data point, isn’t it, considering McLaren’s prior reign and the relative struggles of BAR-Honda and Renault.

F1ABY Tales

The rain, a venomous serpent coiling around the track, had threatened to unravel the entire spectacle. Barrichello, a fraction of a second behind, wrestled with the car’s balance, a familiar dance for the Brazilian. This, in many ways, echoed the struggles of Fangio’s early years, the relentless pursuit of perfection mirroring the legendary driver’s own battles. Schumacher, however, remained unmoved, a fortress of calculated aggression, building a buffer that spoke volumes about Ferrari’s strategic dominance. The Italian team’s 9-point advantage, secured with such clinical precision, felt less like a victory and more like a declaration. The world watched, mirroring the anxieties of the 1939 European Crisis, a sense of impending, inevitable shifts in power.

The rain, a persistent, sullen grey, mirrored the mood settling over the Williams garage. Stewart, a man sculpted by years of relentless pursuit, sat rigidly, a tumbler of water clutched in his hand. A veteran accustomed to victory, he seemed to carry the weight of expectation, a palpable burden amplified by McLaren’s sudden decline. The Australian sun, obscured as it was, offered little warmth to a team grappling with a season already threatening to unravel. This, one suspects, was a moment that would define the trajectory of McLaren’s 2004 campaign.