2004 Japanese Grand Prix

The 2004 Japanese Grand Prix (officially the 2004 Formula 1 Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix ) [ 2 ] was a Formula One motor race held on 10 October 2004 at the Suzuka Circuit . It was Race 17 of 18 in the 2004 FIA Formula One World Championship .

The bottom 6 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.

Wirdheim and Briscoe could not got to drive any single lap Friday training sessions. Teams confirmed it as a reason for not driving the drivers that they had a limited number of tyres for very wet weather, and were therefore not sufficient for the cars of the third drivers. [ 3 ]

On lap 20, Webber retired for a rather unusual reason: the cockpit of his Jaguar inexplicably overheated to such an extent that the Australian driver suffered minor burns on his thigh. After the first series of stops, Trulli, Montoya, Barrichello and Fisichella gave rise to an intense duel, with the Sauber driver having difficulty with the tyres, having to give way to the Brazilian from Ferrari, but managing to defend himself from the other two until his second refueling, on the 24th lap. Michae...

Behind him, however, Barrichello quickly recovered. On lap 38, the Brazilian attempted an attack, but the McLaren driver came out of the corner and the two subsequently touched each other. The two cars were damaged beyond repair and both had to give up. Alonso moved up to fifth place. Meanwhile, Button prevailed against his teammate in the duel for the podium. Sato got off to a slow start and pain from an old shoulder injury returned during the race and had to go without liquid for much of the r...

There were no more surprises in the final laps and Michael Schumacher won ahead of Ralf Schumacher, Button, Sato, Alonso, Räikkönen, Montoya and Fisichella. It was Ferrari's fifteenth victory of the season. In doing so, they equaled the previous record of the McLaren, which won fifteen out of sixteen Grands Prix victories in 1988 , and the Ferrari, which won fifteen out of seventeen in 2002 .

It was the last time the Schumacher brothers finished in 1–2 formation (having done so on four other occasions: 2001 Canadian Grand Prix , 2001 French Grand Prix , 2002 Brazilian Grand Prix , 2003 Canadian Grand Prix ). It was also the last 1-2 finish between German drivers until the 2013 Indian Grand Prix .

34°50′35″N 136°32′26″E  /  34.84306°N 136.54056°E  / 34.84306; 136.54056