2004 Monaco Grand Prix

The 2004 Monaco Grand Prix (formally the Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco 2004 ) [ 1 ] was a Formula One motor race held on 23 May 2004, at the Circuit de Monaco , contested over 77 laps. It was Race 6 of 18 in the 2004 FIA Formula One World Championship . The race was won by Renault driver Jarno Trulli ; his only victory in Formula One. BAR driver, Jenson Button finished in second position, one second behind Trulli and Rubens Barrichello took the third and final podium spot for Ferrari .

In fine conditions Trulli beat Button to the first corner off the grid , and the fast starting Takuma Sato beat Kimi Räikkönen and Michael Schumacher to fourth place before retiring at the end of the second lap. On lap three the safety car was deployed due to a collision between David Coulthard and Giancarlo Fisichella , with the race resuming on lap seven. The two Renault drivers, Trulli and Fernando Alonso remained close together at the front of the race until the pit stops which briefly saw M...

The Bridgestone tyres used by Schumacher were inferior to the Michelin tyres used by the Renault, BAR and Williams teams at the Monaco weekend. [ 4 ] In the weeks before the Monaco race Bridgestone had worked with the Ferrari team on tyres that could perform a fast single lap during qualifying and the opening laps of the race. [ 4 ] Schumacher had set his fast practice times on soft tyres, but after his tyres had struggled on a slippery track, Schumacher and the other Bridgestone teams returned ...

Renault driver Jarno Trulli set his pole time of 1m13.985s, it was the fastest ever recorded around the Monaco circuit, and was the first pole position of his career. His time was 0.411 faster than the next driver. [ 5 ] [ 6 ] Trulli had previously started on the front row at Monaco in 2000. [ 6 ] Of his first pole Trulli said that "I'm pretty impressed over my lap time because I couldn't believe I lapped under the 14s...I put in a very impressive lap. In Monaco, being on pole, which is somethin...

On lap 28, Räikkönen retired with mechanical troubles, joining Jaguar's Christian Klien and Mark Webber , as well as Jordan's Giorgio Pantano and Minardi 's Gianmaria Bruni on the sidelines.

In an attempt to lap Ralf Schumacher , who was down in 11th position, Alonso tried to pass him offline around the outside in the tunnel and crashed heavily. Alonso was enraged by this incident, and publicly accused Ralf of dangerous driving. The safety car was immediately deployed, and all of the front-runners (except Michael Schumacher and Montoya) took the opportunity to pit. While following the safety car, Schumacher locked his left front tyre in the tunnel in an apparent attempt to generate ...

Following what would turn out to be the only Grand Prix win of his Formula One career, Trulli was left literally speechless during interviews, having teammate Alonso conduct interviews on his behalf. [ 11 ]

Jaguar unveiled a special Monaco livery to promote the new Ocean's Twelve film. The car's airbox and red-painted nose feature the movie's logo, and the car's nose features a diamond worth $300,000 owned by jewelry brand Steinmetz. Klien crashed into the guardrails at the Loews hairpin on the first lap. When Jaguar personnel arrived at the crash site, the diamond was gone. [ 12 ]

The bottom 6 teams in the 2003 Constructors' Championship were entitled to run a third car in free practice on Thursday. These drivers drove on Thursday but did not compete in qualifying or the race.

43°44′4.74″N 7°25′16.8″E  /  43.7346500°N 7.421333°E  / 43.7346500; 7.421333