2004 Japanese Grand Prix

2004 Japanese Grand Prix
Race 17 of 18 in the 2004 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date	10 October 2004
Official name	2004 Formula 1 Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix
Location	Suzuka Circuit, Suzuka, Mie, Japan
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	5.807 km (3.608 mi)
Distance	53 laps, 307.771 km (191.224 mi)
Weather	Sunny
Pole position
Driver	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari
Time	1:33.542
Fastest lap
Driver	Rubens Barrichello	Ferrari
Time	1:32.730 on lap 30
Podium
First	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari
Second	Ralf Schumacher	Williams-BMW
Third	Jenson Button	BAR-Honda
Lap leaders

The 2004 Japanese Grand Prix (officially the 2004 Formula 1 Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix)^[1] 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. All the running on Saturday was cancelled due to Typhoon Ma-on, meaning that both the qualifying sessions were run on Sunday morning. The grid was shaken up due to rain, Ralf Schumacher and Mark Webber taking fortunate grid positions due to being allotted early running in the session.

While Michael Schumacher was not as competitive towards the end of the season as he had been en route to his seventh title, Japan could be seen as normal service resumed, the German winning comfortably from pole. This was his 13th and last win of the season, breaking his own record from 2002 with 11. Ralf was behind him, taking his first podium since breaking his back at Indianapolis. 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). At Suzuka in 2003 BAR upset the form book with a double points finish – in 2004 this was commonplace, although 11 points was still their biggest haul of the season. Contact between David Coulthard and Rubens Barrichello ended the race for both drivers. Webber retired in bizarre circumstances – part of the seat had overheated, causing burns to his buttocks.

This was Jarno Trulli's first race with the Toyota team after missing the previous race. This was Olivier Panis's last race as he decided to retire from the race seat. But he stayed with the Toyota team, as the test driver. This was Rubens Barrichello's only DNF of the season after colliding with David Coulthard on lap 38.

Friday drivers[]

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.^[2]

Constructor	Nat	Driver
BAR-Honda		Anthony Davidson
Sauber-Petronas		-
Jaguar-Cosworth		Björn Wirdheim
Toyota		Ryan Briscoe
Jordan-Ford		Robert Doornbos
Minardi-Cosworth		Bas Leinders

Classification[]

Qualifying[]

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Q1 Time	Q2 Time	Gap
1	1	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	1:38.397	1:33.542	—
2	4	Ralf Schumacher	Williams-BMW	1:38.864	1:34.032	+0.490
3	14	Mark Webber	Jaguar-Cosworth	1:39.170	1:34.571	+1.029
4	10	Takuma Sato	BAR-Honda	1:40.135	1:34.897	+1.355
5	9	Jenson Button	BAR-Honda	1:41.423	1:35.157	+1.615
6	16	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	1:37.716	1:35.213	+1.671
7	11	Giancarlo Fisichella	Sauber-Petronas	1:40.151	1:36.136	+2.594
8	5	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes	1:41.126	1:36.156	+2.614
9	7	Jacques Villeneuve	Renault	1:41.857	1:36.274	+2.732
10	17	Olivier Panis	Toyota	1:40.029	1:36.420	+2.878
11	8	Fernando Alonso	Renault	1:42.056	1:36.663	+3.458
12	6	Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:41.517	1:36.820	+3.278
13	3	Juan Pablo Montoya	Williams-BMW	1:44.370	1:37.653	+4.111
14	15	Christian Klien	Jaguar-Cosworth	1:42.054	1:38.258	+4.716
15	2	Rubens Barrichello	Ferrari	1:41.001	1:38.637	+5.095
16	18	Nick Heidfeld	Jordan-Ford	1:42.434	1:41.953	+8.411
17	19	Timo Glock	Jordan-Ford	1:43.682	1:43.533	+9.991
18	20	Gianmaria Bruni	Minardi-Cosworth	1:45.415	1:48.069	+14.527
19	21	Zsolt Baumgartner	Minardi-Cosworth	No time	No time	No time
20	12	Felipe Massa	Sauber-Petronas	1:41.707	No time	No time
Source:[3]

• Qualifying was held on Sunday morning due to weather conditions on Saturday.

Race[]

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	1	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	53	1:24:26.985	1	10
2	4	Ralf Schumacher	Williams-BMW	53	+14.098	2	8
3	9	Jenson Button	BAR-Honda	53	+19.662	5	6
4	10	Takuma Sato	BAR-Honda	53	+31.781	4	5
5	8	Fernando Alonso	Renault	53	+37.767	11	4
6	6	Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren-Mercedes	53	+39.362	12	3
7	3	Juan Pablo Montoya	Williams-BMW	53	+55.347	13	2
8	11	Giancarlo Fisichella	Sauber-Petronas	53	+56.276	7	1
9	12	Felipe Massa	Sauber-Petronas	53	+1:29.656	19
10	7	Jacques Villeneuve	Renault	52	+1 Lap	9
11	16	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	52	+1 Lap	6
12	15	Christian Klien	Jaguar-Cosworth	52	+1 Lap	14
13	18	Nick Heidfeld	Jordan-Ford	52	+1 Lap	16
14	17	Olivier Panis	Toyota	51	+2 Laps	10
15	19	Timo Glock	Jordan-Ford	51	+2 Laps	17
16	20	Gianmaria Bruni	Minardi-Cosworth	50	+3 Laps	18
Ret	21	Zsolt Baumgartner	Minardi-Cosworth	41	Spin	PL
Ret	5	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes	38	Collision	8
Ret	2	Rubens Barrichello	Ferrari	38	Collision	15
Ret	14	Mark Webber	Jaguar-Cosworth	20	Overheating	3
Source:[4]

• Baumgartner started the race from the pitlane.

Championship standings after the race[]

• Bold text indicates the World Champions.

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Michael Schumacher 146 2 Rubens Barrichello 108 3 Jenson Button 85 4 Fernando Alonso 54 5 Juan Pablo Montoya 48 Source: [5]

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Ferrari 254 2 BAR-Honda 116 3 Renault 100 4 Williams-BMW 74 5 McLaren-Mercedes 61 Source: [5]

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References[]

External links[]

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