2004 Italian Grand Prix

The 2004 Italian Grand Prix (officially the Formula 1 Gran Premio Vodafone d'Italia 2004)^[1] was a Formula One motor race held on 12 September 2004 at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza. It was Race 15 of 18 in the 2004 FIA Formula One World Championship.

2004 Italian Grand Prix
Race 15 of 18 in the 2004 Formula One World Championship ← Previous race Next race →
Autodromo Nazionale di Monza
Race details
Date	12 September 2004
Official name	Formula 1 Gran Premio Vodafone d'Italia 2004
Location	Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Monza, Italy
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	5.793 km (3.600 miles)
Distance	53 laps, 306.720 km (190.587 miles)
Weather	Wet track at the start, dry later on
Pole position
Driver	Rubens Barrichello	Ferrari
Time	1:20.089
Fastest lap
Driver	Rubens Barrichello	Ferrari
Time	1:21.046 on lap 41 (lap record)
Podium
First	Rubens Barrichello	Ferrari
Second	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari
Third	Jenson Button	BAR-Honda
Lap leaders

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.

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

Report

Background

After the Belgian Grand Prix, Michael Schumacher was already crowned driver world champion. He led the drivers' championship unassailably with 40 points ahead of Rubens Barrichello and 63 points ahead of Jenson Button. After the Hungarian Grand Prix, Ferrari was confirmed as constructors' world champion. They held an unassailable lead in the constructors' championship with 125 points ahead of Renault and 131 points ahead of BAR-Honda.

This race was Scuderia Ferrari's 700th start in a World Championship event as a team.^[2] This was the last race for Giorgio Pantano.

Qualifying

In the first qualifying, in which the starting positions for the second qualifying were determined, Montoya achieved the fastest time. Barrichello was fastest in qualifying and secured pole position with a time of 1:20.089 minutes. Montoya came second ahead of Michael Schumacher.

In the first part of qualifying (which did not count towards grid positions), Montoya lapped Monza in his Williams FW26 at an average speed of 262.242 km/h (162.950 mph), which at the time, was the fastest lap recorded at Monza, and the highest average speed over one lap in Formula One. These records would stand until the 2018 edition.

Race

Michael Schumacher finished second, driving for Ferrari.

The morning of the race was quite rainy and at the time of departure there were still wet parts of the circuit, which made tire selection difficult. At the beginning of the race, Alonso overtakes Barrichello; while Schumacher drops to 15th position after an incident. However, against all odds, Barrichello manages to regain third position after stopping on lap 5 to put on dry tires and Barrichello climbs back into first place.

In the Minardi pit garage, the car of Gianmaria Bruni caught fire after fuel escaped from the hose onto the hot bodywork during a routine pit-stop, and it was put out without any serious injury. Bruni inhaled some of the extinguishant and was having trouble breathing and so the team decided to retire the car.^[3]

Montoya's teammate Antônio Pizzonia reached a top speed of 369.9 km/h (229.8 mph), the fastest speed recorded in Formula One at the time (it was to be exceeded by Montoya at the 2005 edition).

Ferrari took a 1–2 in front of the delighted Tifosi, with Rubens Barrichello ahead of teammate Michael Schumacher.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Q1 Time	Q2 Time	Gap	Grid
1	2	Rubens Barrichello	Ferrari	1:20.552	1:20.089	—	1
2	3	Juan Pablo Montoya	Williams-BMW	1:19.525	1:20.620	+0.531	2
3	1	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	1:20.528	1:20.637	+0.548	3
4	8	Fernando Alonso	Renault	1:20.341	1:20.645	+0.556	4
5	10	Takuma Sato	BAR-Honda	1:19.733	1:20.715	+0.626	5
6	9	Jenson Button	BAR-Honda	1:19.856	1:20.786	+0.697	6
7	6	Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:20.501	1:20.877	+0.788	7
8	4	Antônio Pizzonia	Williams-BMW	1:19.671	1:20.888	+0.799	8
9	7	Jarno Trulli	Renault	1:21.011	1:21.027	+0.938	9
10	5	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes	1:20.414	1:21.049	+0.960	10
11	16	Ricardo Zonta	Toyota	1:21.829	1:21.520	+1.431	11
12	14	Mark Webber	Jaguar-Cosworth	1:21.783	1:21.602	+1.513	12
13	17	Olivier Panis	Toyota	1:22.169	1:21.841	+1.752	13
14	15	Christian Klien	Jaguar-Cosworth	1:22.114	1:21.989	+1.900	14
15	11	Giancarlo Fisichella	Sauber-Petronas	1:20.357	1:22.239	+2.150	15
16	12	Felipe Massa	Sauber-Petronas	1:20.571	1:22.287	+2.198	16
17	18	Nick Heidfeld	Jordan-Ford	No time	1:22.301	+2.212	201
18	19	Giorgio Pantano	Jordan-Ford	1:23.264	1:23.239	+3.150	17
19	21	Zsolt Baumgartner	Minardi-Cosworth	1:25.082	1:24.8082	+4.719	19
20	20	Gianmaria Bruni	Minardi-Cosworth	1:23.963	1:24.910	+4.821	18
Source:[4]

Notes

• ^1 – Nick Heidfeld received a ten-place grid penalty for an engine change in Friday practice.
• ^2 – Zsolt Baumgartner initially set a lap time of (1:24.808), but received a one-second time penalty for cutting the chicane on his flying lap.

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	2	Rubens Barrichello	Ferrari	53	1:15:18.448	1	10
2	1	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	53	+1.347	3	8
3	9	Jenson Button	BAR-Honda	53	+10.197	6	6
4	10	Takuma Sato	BAR-Honda	53	+15.370	5	5
5	3	Juan Pablo Montoya	Williams-BMW	53	+32.352	2	4
6	5	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes	53	+33.439	PL1	3
7	4	Antônio Pizzonia	Williams-BMW	53	+33.752	8	2
8	11	Giancarlo Fisichella	Sauber-Petronas	53	+35.431	15	1
9	14	Mark Webber	Jaguar-Cosworth	53	+56.761	12
10	7	Jarno Trulli	Renault	53	+1:06.316	9
11	16	Ricardo Zonta	Toyota	53	+1:22.531	11
12	12	Felipe Massa	Sauber-Petronas	52	+1 Lap	16
13	15	Christian Klien	Jaguar-Cosworth	52	+1 Lap	14
14	18	Nick Heidfeld	Jordan-Ford	52	+1 Lap	PL1
15	21	Zsolt Baumgartner	Minardi-Cosworth	50	+3 Laps	19
Ret	8	Fernando Alonso	Renault	40	Spun off	4
Ret	19	Giorgio Pantano	Jordan-Ford	33	Accident	17
Ret	20	Gianmaria Bruni	Minardi-Cosworth	29	Fire	18
Ret	6	Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren-Mercedes	13	Overheating	7
Ret	17	Olivier Panis	Toyota	0	Spun off	13
Source:[5]

Notes

• ^1 – David Coulthard and Nick Heidfeld started the race from the pitlane.

Championship standings after the race

• Bold text and an asterisk indicates the World Champions.

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Michael Schumacher* 136 2 Rubens Barrichello 98 3 Jenson Button 71 4 Jarno Trulli 46 5 Fernando Alonso 45 Source:[6]

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Ferrari* 234 1 2 BAR-Honda 94 1 3 Renault 91 4 Williams-BMW 60 5 McLaren-Mercedes 52 Source:[6]

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

See also

• 2004 Monza F3000 round

Footnotes

References

1. "Formula 1 Gran Premio Vodafone d'Italia 2004 – Race". Formula1.com. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
2. Privateer Ferrari entry in 1950 French Grand Prix, which is often a source of incorrect count for their races as a team (as opposed to as a manufacturer) doesn't count towards the team's participations.
3. "Grand Prix Results: Italian GP, 2004". GrandPrix.com. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
4. "2004 Italian Grand Prix – Saturday Qualifying Results". Formula1.com. Archived from the original on 28 February 2014. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
5. "2004 Italian Grand Prix – Race Results". Formula1.com. Archived from the original on 16 November 2014. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
6. "Italy 2004 – Championship". StatsF1.com. Retrieved 18 March 2019.

External links

• Comments on 2004 Italian GP

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