2004 Malaysian Grand Prix

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2004 Malaysian Grand Prix
Race 2 of 18 in the 2004 Formula One World Championship
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Sepang.svg
Race details
Date21 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 Flag of Colombia.svg Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW
Time 1:34.223 on lap 28
Podium
First Ferrari
Second Williams-BMW
Third BAR-Honda
Lap leaders
  • 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.

Contents

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.

ConstructorNoDriver
BAR-Honda 35 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Anthony Davidson
Sauber-Petronas -
Jaguar-Cosworth 37 Flag of Sweden.svg Björn Wirdheim
Toyota 38 Flag of Brazil.svg Ricardo Zonta
Jordan-Ford 39 Flag of Germany.svg Timo Glock
Minardi-Cosworth 40 Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Bas Leinders

Race report

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

Qualifying

PosNoDriverConstructorQ1 TimeQ2 TimeGapGrid
11 Flag of Germany.svg Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:33.8651:33.0741
214 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Mark Webber Jaguar-Cosworth 1:34.0161:33.715+0.6412
32 Flag of Brazil.svg Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 1:34.1321:33.756+0.6823
43 Flag of Colombia.svg Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW 1:34.9411:34.054+0.9804
56 Flag of Finland.svg Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 1:33.4521:34.164+1.0905
69 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Jenson Button BAR-Honda 1:34.5281:34.221+1.1476
74 Flag of Germany.svg Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW 1:34.7771:34.235+1.1617
87 Flag of Italy.svg Jarno Trulli Renault 1:33.2641:34.413+1.3398
95 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1:34.3211:34.602+1.5289
1016 Flag of Brazil.svg Cristiano da Matta Toyota 1:35.6841:34.917+1.84310
1112 Flag of Brazil.svg Felipe Massa Sauber-Petronas 1:35.1321:35.039+1.96511
1211 Flag of Italy.svg Giancarlo Fisichella Sauber-Petronas 1:34.8771:35.061+1.98712
1315 Flag of Austria.svg Christian Klien Jaguar-Cosworth 1:35.6181:35.158+2.08413
1417 Flag of France.svg Olivier Panis Toyota 1:35.2471:35.617+2.54314
1518 Flag of Germany.svg Nick Heidfeld Jordan-Ford 1:36.7691:36.569+3.49515
1620 Flag of Italy.svg Gianmaria Bruni Minardi-Cosworth 1:38.7291:38.577+5.50316
1721 Flag of Hungary.svg Zsolt Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth 1:39.8051:39.272+6.19817
1819 Flag of Italy.svg Giorgio Pantano 5 Jordan-Ford No time 1 1:39.902+6.82818 4
198 Flag of Spain.svg Fernando Alonso Renault 1:33.193No time 2 19 4
2010 Flag of Japan.svg Takuma Sato BAR-Honda 1:34.971No time 3 20 4
Source: [3]
Notes

Race

PosNoDriverConstructorTyreLapsTime/RetiredGridPoints
11 Flag of Germany.svg Michael Schumacher Ferrari B 561:31:07.490110
23 Flag of Colombia.svg Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW M 56+5.02248
39 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Jenson Button BAR-Honda M 56+11.56866
42 Flag of Brazil.svg Rubens Barrichello Ferrari B 56+13.61535
57 Flag of Italy.svg Jarno Trulli Renault M 56+37.36084
65 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes M 56+53.09893
78 Flag of Spain.svg Fernando Alonso Renault M 56+1:07.877192
812 Flag of Brazil.svg Felipe Massa Sauber-Petronas B 55+1 Lap111
916 Flag of Brazil.svg Cristiano da Matta Toyota M 55+1 Lap10 
1015 Flag of Austria.svg Christian Klien Jaguar-Cosworth M 55+1 Lap13 
1111 Flag of Italy.svg Giancarlo Fisichella Sauber-Petronas B 55+1 Lap12 
1217 Flag of France.svg Olivier Panis Toyota M 55+1 Lap14 
1319 Flag of Italy.svg Giorgio Pantano Jordan-Ford B 54+2 LapsPL 6  
1420 Flag of Italy.svg Gianmaria Bruni Minardi-Cosworth B 53+3 Laps16 
1510 Flag of Japan.svg Takuma Sato BAR-Honda M 52Engine20 
1621 Flag of Hungary.svg Zsolt Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth B 52+4 Laps17 
Ret6 Flag of Finland.svg Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes M 40Hydraulics/Engine5 
Ret18 Flag of Germany.svg Nick Heidfeld Jordan-Ford B 34Transmission15 
Ret4 Flag of Germany.svg Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW M 27Engine7 
Ret14 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Mark Webber Jaguar-Cosworth M 23Spun off2 
Source: [5]
Notes

Championship standings after the race

    References

    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. "Malaysian GP: Jordan Saturday qualifying notes". Motorsport.com. Retrieved 24 August 2025.
    5. "2004 Malaysian Grand Prix - Race Results". Formula1.com. Formula1.com Limited. Archived from the original on 16 November 2014. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
    6. 1 2 "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
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    2003 Malaysian Grand Prix
    Malaysian Grand Prix Next race:
    2005 Malaysian Grand Prix

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