2004 British Grand Prix

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2004 British Grand Prix
Race 11 of 18 in the 2004 Formula One World Championship
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Silverstone Circuit 2004 to 2009.png
Silverstone Circuit in its 2004 configuration
Race details
Date11 July 2004
Official name 2004 Formula 1 Foster's British Grand Prix [1]
Location Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone, Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire, England
Course Permanent Road Facility
Course length 5.141 km (3.194 miles)
Distance 60 laps, 308.355 km (191.603 miles)
Weather Cloudy, Air: 17 °C (63 °F), Track 27 °C (81 °F) [2]
Pole position
Driver McLaren-Mercedes
Time 1:18.233
Fastest lap
Driver Flag of Germany.svg Michael Schumacher Ferrari
Time 1:18.739 on lap 14
Podium
First Ferrari
Second McLaren-Mercedes
Third Ferrari
Lap leaders
  • 2004 British Grand Prix

The 2004 British Grand Prix (formally known as the 2004 Formula 1 Foster's British Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race that took place on 11 July 2004 at the Silverstone Circuit in Northamptonshire, England. It was the eleventh round of the 2004 FIA Formula One World Championship.

Contents

Kimi Räikkönen of McLaren scored his first pole position of the season, but finished second in the race behind championship leader Michael Schumacher of Ferrari, the German continuing his winning streak with five Grands Prix in a row, just like he did at the start of the year.

Background

The race was preceded by a demonstration of contemporary Formula One cars on Regent Street [3] [4] in London, including former British Formula One World Champion Nigel Mansell driving the Jordan EJ14. [5] The event attracted an estimated 500,000 spectators. [6]

After the demonstration, Minardi's Sporting Director John Walton died of a heart attack. Minardi decided to withdraw its cars from the third practice session on Saturday morning. [7]

Practice

Four free practice sessions were held for the event. On Friday, the first session was topped by the Ferraris of Rubens Barrichello and Michael Schumacher. The second session saw McLaren's Kimi Räikkönen on top, just five thousands ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella in the Sauber. [8] [9]

On Saturday, Räikkönen topped the third session as well, ahead of Jenson Button in the BAR. [7] And both drivers repeated their feats in the fourth and final session. [10]

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.

ConstructorNatDriver
BAR-Honda Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Anthony Davidson
Sauber-Petronas -
Jaguar-Cosworth Flag of Sweden.svg Björn Wirdheim
Toyota Flag of Brazil.svg Ricardo Zonta
Jordan-Ford Flag of Germany.svg Timo Glock
Minardi-Cosworth Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Bas Leinders

Qualifying

Qualifying on Saturday consisted of two sessions. In the first session, drivers went out one by one in the order in which they classified at the previous race. Each driver was allowed to set one lap time. The result determined the running order in the second session: the fastest driver in the first session was allowed to go last in the second session, which usually provided the benefit of a cleaner track. In the second session, drivers were again allowed to set one lap time, which determined the order on the grid for the race on Sunday, with the fastest driver scoring pole position. [11]

On this particular weekend, the first qualifying session was unusual. Teams were expecting rain later that day, so they were deliberately going slow in the first session, aiming for an early slot in the second session. Michael Schumacher spun his car and Rubens Barrichello went wide at Vale corner. Other drivers simply and unsubtly lifted off in the final sector, cruising across the start-finish line at walking pace. Eventually, the rain never came. [8] [12]

PosNoDriverConstructorQ1 TimeQ2 TimeGapGrid
16 Flag of Finland.svg Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 1:21.6391:18.2331
22 Flag of Brazil.svg Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 1:24.8171:18.305+0.0722
39 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Jenson Button BAR-Honda 1:18.8721:18.580+0.3473
41 Flag of Germany.svg Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:30.2931:18.710+0.4774
57 Flag of Italy.svg Jarno Trulli Renault 1:21.4961:18.715+0.4825
68 Flag of Spain.svg Fernando Alonso Renault 1:21.9231:18.811+0.57816 1
75 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1:23.5211:19.148+0.9156
83 Flag of Colombia.svg Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW 1:34.3861:19.378+1.1457
910 Flag of Japan.svg Takuma Sato BAR-Honda 1:28.9101:19.688+1.4558
1014 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Mark Webber Jaguar-Cosworth 1:35.8531:20.004+1.7719
1112 Flag of Brazil.svg Felipe Massa Sauber-Petronas 1:19.3171:20.202+1.96910
1217 Flag of France.svg Olivier Panis Toyota 1:19.6971:20.335+2.10217 2
134 Flag of Spain.svg Marc Gené Williams-BMW 1:34.9811:20.335+2.10211
1416 Flag of Brazil.svg Cristiano da Matta Toyota 1:22.5071:20.545+2.31212
1515 Flag of Austria.svg Christian Klien Jaguar-Cosworth 1:38.6481:21.559+3.32613
1619 Flag of Italy.svg Giorgio Pantano Jordan-Ford 1:21.3501:22.458+4.22514
1718 Flag of Germany.svg Nick Heidfeld Jordan-Ford No time 3 1:22.677+4.44415
1820 Flag of Italy.svg Gianmaria Bruni Minardi-Cosworth 1:22.5291:23.437+5.20418 1
1921 Flag of Hungary.svg Zsolt Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth 1:23.1161:24.117+5.88419 1
2011 Flag of Italy.svg Giancarlo Fisichella Sauber-Petronas No time 4 No time 4 20 1
Source: [13]
Notes

Race

The race was held on 11 July 2004 and was run for 60 laps. [16]

Race report

Jarno Trulli lost control at Bridge Corner and crashed heavily. Jarno Trulli - Renault R24 loses control at Bridge Corner and crashes at Priory at the 2004 British Grand Prix (50834837128).jpg
Jarno Trulli lost control at Bridge Corner and crashed heavily.

The race started off relatively calm with Kimi Räikkönen managing to hold on to the lead ahead of Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button. Räikkönen showed the best pace, while being able to hold out two more laps before pitting. But it was Michael Schumacher, starting in fourth, who set five consecutive fastest laps while the frontrunners stopped and he managed to open up a gap of more than 20 seconds to his rivals. When the German pitted and rejoined the race on lap 16, it turned out he had jumped ahead of all three drivers and merged into the lead of the race. [8]

Räikkönen tried to put pressure on Schumacher but the McLaren had to pit again on lap 28, while the Ferrari could go on to lap 37. Meanwhile, Button had passed Barrichello in the first round of stops, but the Brazilian was back in front after the second round. Giancarlo Fisichella in the Sauber looked set for an impressive fifth place. [8]

On lap 39, Jarno Trulli had a big crash coming out of Bridge corner. His rear suspension seemed to have failed and his car rolled over into the gravel. Trulli was unhurt but the tyre barrier needed repairing, so the safety car was deployed. This gave Räikkönen the chance to close all the way up to Schumacher, but after the restart, he was unable to match the leader's pace and he had to settle for second. Barrichello completed the podium. Fisichella lost out to Juan Pablo Montoya but scored a respectable sixth place at the finish. [8]

Race classification

PosNoDriverConstructorLapsTime/RetiredGridPoints
11 Flag of Germany.svg Michael Schumacher Ferrari 601:24:42.700410
26 Flag of Finland.svg Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 60+2.13018
32 Flag of Brazil.svg Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 60+3.11426
49 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Jenson Button BAR-Honda 60+10.68335
53 Flag of Colombia.svg Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW 60+12.17374
611 Flag of Italy.svg Giancarlo Fisichella Sauber-Petronas 60+12.888203
75 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 60+19.66862
814 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Mark Webber Jaguar-Cosworth 60+23.70191
912 Flag of Brazil.svg Felipe Massa Sauber-Petronas 60+24.02310 
108 Flag of Spain.svg Fernando Alonso Renault 60+24.83516 
1110 Flag of Japan.svg Takuma Sato BAR-Honda 60+33.7368 
124 Flag of Spain.svg Marc Gené Williams-BMW 60+34.30311 
1316 Flag of Brazil.svg Cristiano da Matta Toyota 59+1 Lap12 
1415 Flag of Austria.svg Christian Klien Jaguar-Cosworth 59+1 Lap13 
1518 Flag of Germany.svg Nick Heidfeld Jordan-Ford 59+1 Lap15 
1620 Flag of Italy.svg Gianmaria Bruni Minardi-Cosworth 56+4 Laps18 
Ret19 Flag of Italy.svg Giorgio Pantano Jordan-Ford 47Spin14 
Ret7 Flag of Italy.svg Jarno Trulli Renault 39Suspension/Accident5 
Ret21 Flag of Hungary.svg Zsolt Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth 29Engine19 
Ret17 Flag of France.svg Olivier Panis Toyota 16Fire Extinguisher17 
Source: [17]

Championship standings after the race

See also

References

  1. "2004 FORMULA 1 Foster's British Grand Prix - Race". Formula1.com. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
  2. F1 Racing . August 2004.
  3. "Formula 1 comes to Regent Street". Evening Standard. 23 June 2004.
  4. "F1 drivers burn rubber on London Streets". The Guardian. 7 July 2004.
  5. "London event a success". www.motorsport.com. Motorsport.com. 7 July 2004.
  6. "London GP 'could happen'". www.bbc.co.uk. BBC. 6 July 2004.
  7. 1 2 "Practice 3: Raikkonen still top". Autosport . 10 July 2004. Retrieved 30 July 2025.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 Elizalde, Pablo (7 April 2004). "2004 British Grand Prix Review". ATLASF1.com. Spain. Retrieved 25 July 2025.
  9. "FORMULA 1 ™ MOBIL 1 GRAND PRIX DE FRANCE 2004 - PRACTICE 1". formula1.com. Retrieved 24 July 2025.
  10. "Practice 4: Kimi again". Autosport . 10 July 2004. Retrieved 30 July 2025.
  11. "Deciding the grid - A history of F1 qualifying formats". formula1.com. Retrieved 25 July 2025.
  12. "Qualifying Report - 3-2-1 lift-off!". grandprix.com. Retrieved 25 July 2025.
  13. "2004 British Grand Prix – Saturday Qualifying Results". Formula1.com. Formula1.com Limited. Archived from the original on 30 September 2013. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  14. 1 2 "British Grand Prix Starting Grid". AtlasF1 . 11 July 2004. Retrieved 30 July 2025.
  15. 1 2 "British Grand Prix Review". AtlasF1 . 11 July 2004. Retrieved 30 July 2025.
  16. "2004 British Grand Prix". Motor Sport . Retrieved 30 July 2025.
  17. "2004 British Grand Prix – Race Results". Formula1.com. Formula1.com Limited. Archived from the original on 16 November 2014. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  18. 1 2 "Britain 2004 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
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2004 French Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
2004 season
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2004 German Grand Prix
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2005 British Grand Prix

52°04′43″N1°01′01″W / 52.07861°N 1.01694°W / 52.07861; -1.01694