2004 Malaysian Grand Prix

The 2004 Malaysian Grand Prix (officially the 2004 Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix)[2] was a Formula One motor race held on 21 March 2004 at the Sepang International Circuit. It was Race 2 of 18 in the 2004 FIA Formula One World Championship. The race was won by Michael Schumacher for Ferrari. This was also the first podium for future World Champion Jenson Button, who finished in 3rd place.

2004 Malaysian Grand Prix
Race 2 of 18 in the 2004 Formula One World Championship
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Race details
Date 21 March 2004
Official name 2004 Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix
Location Sepang International Circuit, Sepang, Malaysia
Course Permanent race circuit
Course length 5.543 km (3.444 miles)
Distance 56 laps, 310.408 km (192.879 miles)
Weather Dry, light rain at the start
Air Temp 34 °C (93 °F)
Attendance 84,010 (Weekend) [1]
Pole position
Driver Ferrari
Time 1:33.074
Fastest lap
Driver Colombia Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW
Time 1:34.223 on lap 28
Podium
First Ferrari
Second Williams-BMW
Third BAR-Honda
Lap leaders

Friday drivers

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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.

Constructor No Driver
BAR-Honda 35   Anthony Davidson
Sauber-Petronas -
Jaguar-Cosworth 37   Björn Wirdheim
Toyota 38   Ricardo Zonta
Jordan-Ford 39   Timo Glock
Minardi-Cosworth 40   Bas Leinders

Race report

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With all drivers starting on dry tyres, the action started sooner than expected as on the parade lap Kimi Räikkönen spun but was able to retake his grid position. Mark Webber, starting from P2, made a woeful start and slid down the field to be 9th by the 1st lap. Fernando Alonso on the other hand, made a brilliant start from 19th (2nd last) and was up behind Webber in 10th after lap 1. Michael Schumacher led from the start while drivers behind jostled for position. By the second lap, rain started to fall and cars were starting to lose traction on the dry tyres. Jarno Trulli overtook Button but the Brit promptly took the place back again. Alonso barreled past Webber for eighth and closed in on the McLaren of David Coulthard. From the back to a points position within four laps was an outstanding performance from Alonso but it was the best he got all race. By this time Michael Schumacher had already built up quite an advantage, but this was quickly eroded by the hard-charging Juan Pablo Montoya. It was to prove to be just a brief shower as soon the precipitation passed and Schumacher was back on his way.

Webber managed to get past Ralf but the Williams retaliated and got ahead again, puncturing the Jaguar's rear right tyre on his way. Takuma Sato spun into the gravel but recovered the BAR smartly and Webber had to pit for a tyre change. To add insult to injury he got a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit lane and finally compounded his misery by spinning out of the race a few laps later.

A string of cars in the midfield were jostling for position, starting with Nick Heidfeld's Jordan in 11th, then Cristiano da Matta's Toyota, the second Jaguar of Christian Klien, Sauber's Giancarlo Fisichella and da Matta's teammate Olivier Panis. In the first round of pit stops Heidfeld's fuel rig failed and he had to go out and back in again. He eventually pulled into the pits to retire with a gearbox problem.

Trulli got ahead of Coulthard in the first stops and running order at the front, where not much was happening, was Michael, Montoya, Räikkönen. Montoya was falling away from the Ferrari in the second stint of the race but not letting him get too far ahead. Alonso took Coulthard for sixth but then the pair pitted for the second time and the McLaren got out ahead.

Alonso swapped to a two-stop strategy but it gave him no advantage and he seemed resigned to staying behind Coulthard, while Trulli, who had been on quite an early charge, also seemed to lose momentum. Ralf's engine unexpectedly gave up midway through the race, the first failure for BMW for 17 races. Felipe Massa, who was having a pretty good race, got held up by a Minardi and did a bit of agitated hand waving as he went by. The gap between Michael and Montoya was holding at around four seconds and Button moved up to third, jumping Räikkönen in the second pit stops. Both of the Finn's stops seemed quite long and eventually he pulled off to the side of the track with a transmission failure. Disappointing for Räikkönen and McLaren as Kimi was showing good pace until then.

Panis ducked into the pits only to find no crew ready for him and had to go straight back out. Then next lap he was back in again to serve a drive-through for speeding on his previous effort. Not a good day for Panis, or Toyota in general. Da Matta finished ninth after a fairly anonymous race.

In the final laps the BAR crew froze as one of the cars pulled off with an engine failure but it was Sato rather than third placed Button. Bad luck for Sato but the relief that it wasn't his teammate was palpable. Barrichello was gaining ground on Button but with only a few laps to go, he was not in a position to challenge.

Michael took the win with Montoya five seconds behind. BAR and Button were by far the happiest of the lot and the Englishman got the biggest cheer from the crowd as he lifted his first trophy on the third step of the podium.

Classification

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Qualifying

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Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Time Q2 Time Gap Grid
1 1   Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:33.865 1:33.074 1
2 14   Mark Webber Jaguar-Cosworth 1:34.016 1:33.715 +0.641 2
3 2   Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 1:34.132 1:33.756 +0.682 3
4 3   Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW 1:34.941 1:34.054 +0.980 4
5 6   Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 1:33.452 1:34.164 +1.090 5
6 9   Jenson Button BAR-Honda 1:34.528 1:34.221 +1.147 6
7 4   Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW 1:34.777 1:34.235 +1.161 7
8 7   Jarno Trulli Renault 1:33.264 1:34.413 +1.339 8
9 5   David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1:34.321 1:34.602 +1.528 9
10 16   Cristiano da Matta Toyota 1:35.684 1:34.917 +1.843 10
11 12   Felipe Massa Sauber-Petronas 1:35.132 1:35.039 +1.965 11
12 11   Giancarlo Fisichella Sauber-Petronas 1:34.877 1:35.061 +1.987 12
13 15   Christian Klien Jaguar-Cosworth 1:35.618 1:35.158 +2.084 13
14 17   Olivier Panis Toyota 1:35.247 1:35.617 +2.543 14
15 18   Nick Heidfeld Jordan-Ford 1:36.769 1:36.569 +3.495 15
16 20   Gianmaria Bruni Minardi-Cosworth 1:38.729 1:38.577 +5.503 16
17 21   Zsolt Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth 1:39.805 1:39.272 +6.198 17
18 19   Giorgio Pantano Jordan-Ford No time 1:39.902 +6.828 181
19 8   Fernando Alonso Renault 1:33.193 No time 191
20 10   Takuma Sato BAR-Honda 1:34.971 No time 201
Source:[3]
Notes
  • ^1 – Giorgio Pantano, Fernando Alonso and Takuma Sato received a 10-place grid penalty for engine changes.

Race

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Pos No Driver Constructor Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 1   Michael Schumacher Ferrari B 56 1:31:07.490 1 10
2 3   Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW M 56 +5.022 4 8
3 9   Jenson Button BAR-Honda M 56 +11.568 6 6
4 2   Rubens Barrichello Ferrari B 56 +13.615 3 5
5 7   Jarno Trulli Renault M 56 +37.360 8 4
6 5   David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes M 56 +53.098 9 3
7 8   Fernando Alonso Renault M 56 +1:07.877 19 2
8 12   Felipe Massa Sauber-Petronas B 55 +1 Lap 11 1
9 16   Cristiano da Matta Toyota M 55 +1 Lap 10  
10 15   Christian Klien Jaguar-Cosworth M 55 +1 Lap 13  
11 11   Giancarlo Fisichella Sauber-Petronas B 55 +1 Lap 12  
12 17   Olivier Panis Toyota M 55 +1 Lap 14  
13 19   Giorgio Pantano Jordan-Ford B 54 +2 Laps PL1  
14 20   Gianmaria Bruni Minardi-Cosworth B 53 +3 Laps 16  
15 10   Takuma Sato BAR-Honda M 52 Engine 20  
16 21   Zsolt Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth B 52 +4 Laps 17  
Ret 6   Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes M 40 Hydraulics/Engine 5  
Ret 18   Nick Heidfeld Jordan-Ford B 34 Transmission 15  
Ret 4   Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW M 27 Engine 7  
Ret 14   Mark Webber Jaguar-Cosworth M 23 Spun off 2  
Source:[4]
Notes
  • ^1 – Pantano started the race from the pitlane.

Championship standings after the race

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

References

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  1. ^ "Are tickets too dear? Where F1 race attendance fell in 2016 - F1 Fanatic". 8 February 2017.
  2. ^ "2004 Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix - Race". Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  3. ^ "2004 Malaysian Grand Prix - Saturday Qualifying Results". Formula1.com. Formula1.com Limited. Archived from the original on 24 August 2013. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  4. ^ "2004 Malaysian Grand Prix - Race Results". Formula1.com. Formula1.com Limited. Archived from the original on 16 November 2014. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  5. ^ a b "Malaysia 2004 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 19 March 2019.


Previous race:
2004 Australian Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
2004 season
Next race:
2004 Bahrain Grand Prix
Previous race:
2003 Malaysian Grand Prix
Malaysian Grand Prix Next race:
2005 Malaysian Grand Prix

2°45′39″N 101°44′18″E / 2.76083°N 101.73833°E / 2.76083; 101.73833