Friday drivers
The bottom 6 teams in the 2004 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.
Race
Unusually, McLaren did not send a representative to the podium to collect the constructors' trophy, so, Räikkönen accepted it on behalf of the team.
References
50°26′14″N 5°58′17″E / 50.43722°N 5.97139°E / 50.43722; 5.97139
Race Result
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Lap | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 | Juan Pablo Montoya | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:46.391 | |
| 2 | 9 | Kimi Räikkönen | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:46.440 | +0.049 |
| 3 | 6 | Giancarlo Fisichella | Renault | 1:46.497 | +0.106 |
| 4 | 16 | Jarno Trulli | Toyota | 1:46.596 | +0.205 |
| 5 | 5 | Fernando Alonso | Renault | 1:46.760 | +0.369 |
| 6 | 17 | Ralf Schumacher | Toyota | 1:47.401 | +1.010 |
| 7 | 1 | Michael Schumacher | Ferrari | 1:47.476 | +1.085 |
| 8 | 12 | Felipe Massa | Sauber-Petronas | 1:47.867 | +1.476 |
| 9 | 3 | Jenson Button | BAR-Honda | 1:47.978 | +1.587 |
| 10 | 7 | Mark Webber | Williams-BMW | 1:48.071 | +1.680 |
The Paddock Breakdown
Barry · Gary · KatGary — 33 · Three Fantasy F1 leagues
The air in the garage smelled of burnt rubber and simmering ambition—Montoya's McLaren, a 2005 MP4-19, was running at a staggering 830 horsepower thanks to that 3. 0-liter V10, yet the telemetry shows he was still wrestling with lock-up in the Blanchimont chicane. Alonso, predictably, was the calmest, his Renault E40 – a 3. 0-liter V10 monster of its own – displaying a nearly flawless balance, feeding him crucial data on tire degradation that ultimately secured second. Pizzonia's Williams – BMW, a 3. 0-liter V10, was a shadow of itself after the shunt with Montoya, a testament to the brutal realities of Spa's unforgiving asphalt. Don't be fooled by the horsepower figures; it's the *application* of that power that truly separates the contenders.
The air at Spa hung thick with the scent of burnt rubber and unspoken calculations. Montoya's collision, a messy tangle orchestrated perhaps by a frustrated gearbox, wasn't merely a crash. Consider the statistical dissonance: he'd dominated the opening 33 laps, racking up nearly 30 seconds on the field, yet the final 11 were swallowed whole. A curious pattern emerges when you examine McLaren's win ratio – a staggering 60% of races won with a car that, on paper, seemed so vulnerable.
Kat — 30 · Technical journalist
The air around the Williams garage tasted of burnt rubber and simmering fury. Montoya, predictably, was having a conversation with Stewart, a low, guttural exchange that suggested a considerable disagreement regarding the trajectory of that final lap. Pizzonia, meanwhile, was remarkably composed, accepting a sympathetic pat on the back from Frank, perhaps anticipating a hefty compensation package for a collision orchestrated, in part, by his teammate. Alonso, ever the strategist, was already dissecting the telemetry, a subtle smirk playing on his lips – a reminder that Renault, despite the chaos, had secured a vital podium. Don't mistake the calm for complacency; the McLaren camp knew this wasn't just a victory, it was a calculated dismantling of the established order. The question isn't *how* Räikkönen won, but *who* he was truly displacing.
The rain hadn't bothered Montoya, not a whit. He'd been muttering about "over-engineered sympathy" for Pizzonia all the way through the first stint, a simmering resentment directed squarely at McLaren's strategy team. Heard it loud and clear – a quiet, pointed jab at Coulthard's recent contract negotiations and the vultures circling around McLaren's aging stars. Alonso, predictably, was a study in controlled fury, dissecting the Williams' tire degradation with a clinical precision. Button, though, was the curious element; he wasn't congratulating Alonso. Just a slow, deliberate assessment of the damage to his own rear wing – a subtle signal, perhaps, to Renault's engineering department. This wasn't just a victory for Räikkönen; it was a brutal, exquisitely calculated chess move.