2004 Hungarian Grand Prix
Motor car race
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 2004 Hungarian Grand Prix (officially known as the Formula 1 Marlboro Magyar Nagydíj 2004)[4] was a Formula One motor race that took place on 15 August 2004 at the Hungaroring, Mogyoród, Pest, Hungary. It was the thirteenth round of the 2004 FIA Formula One World Championship.
| 2004 Hungarian Grand Prix | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Race 13 of 18 in the 2004 Formula One World Championship
| |||||
|
The Hungaroring after being modified in 2003. | |||||
| Race details[1][2] | |||||
| Date | 15 August 2004 | ||||
| Official name | Formula 1 Marlboro Magyar Nagydíj 2004 | ||||
| Location | Hungaroring, Mogyoród, Pest, Hungary[3] | ||||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||||
| Course length | 4.381 km (2.722 miles) | ||||
| Distance | 70 laps, 306.663 km (190.552 miles) | ||||
| Weather | Warm, dry and sunny, Air: 26 °C (79 °F), Track 42 °C (108 °F) | ||||
| Pole position | |||||
| Driver | Ferrari | ||||
| Time | 1:19.146 | ||||
| Fastest lap | |||||
| Driver |
 Michael Schumacher | Ferrari | |||
| Time | 1:19.071 on lap 29 | ||||
| Podium | |||||
| First | Ferrari | ||||
| Second | Ferrari | ||||
| Third | Renault | ||||
|
Lap leaders | |||||
Michael Schumacher of Scuderia Ferrari took pole position for the race and went on to take the race win ahead of teammate Rubens Barrichello and Fernando Alonso of Renault. It was Schumacher's twelfth win of the season and his seventh in succession, equalling Alberto Ascari's record. Ferrari's one-two finish meant that they secured their sixth consecutive Constructors' Championship.
Background
Across the weekend of 13–15 August, the Hungaroring in Mogyoród hosted a Formula One Grand Prix for the nineteenth time in the circuit's history, with it being the nineteenth Hungarian Grand Prix as a round of the Formula One World Championship as well. It was the thirteenth round of the 2004 Formula One World Championship.[5][6]
Championship standings before the race
Going into the weekend, Michael Schumacher led the Drivers' Championship with 110 points, ahead of Scuderia Ferrari teammate Rubens Barrichello on 74 points and BAR's Jenson Button on 65.[7] Ferrari were leading the Constructors' Championship with 184 points, from Renault (85 points) and BAR (76).[7]
Driver changes
Cristiano da Matta was dropped by the Toyota team because of his poor performance relative to teammate Olivier Panis. He was replaced by the team's third driver Ricardo Zonta but would stay on to perform marketing work while Toyota test driver Ryan Briscoe assumed Zonta's former position.[8]
Practice
Four free practice sessions were held for the event.[9] The first session on Friday was topped by the Ferraris of Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello, ahead of Anthony Davidson, third driver for BAR.[10] McLaren's Kimi Räikkönen set the fastest time in the second session, ahead of Michael Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya of Williams.[11]
On Saturday, Schumacher again set the quickest time in the third practice session, ahead of Williams drivers Antônio Pizzonia and Montoya.[12] Finally, Jenson Button was fastest in the fourth session in his BAR, ahead of Schumacher and Barrichello.[13]
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 |
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.[14]
Despite lower track temperatures and a few drops of the rain, the front of the field saw little surprises. Michael Schumacher scored his seventh pole position of the season and the 62nd of his career, ahead of Ferrari teammate Rubens Barrichello and over half a second ahead of the BARs of Takuma Sato and Jenson Button.[15]
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Q1 Time | Q2 Time | Gap | Grid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Michael Schumacher |
Ferrari | 1:19.107 | 1:19.146 | — | 1 |
| 2 | 2 |  Rubens Barrichello |
Ferrari | 1:18.436 | 1:19.323 | +0.177 | 2 |
| 3 | 10 |  Takuma Sato |
BAR-Honda | 1:19.695 | 1:19.693 | +0.547 | 3 |
| 4 | 9 | Jenson Button |
BAR-Honda | 1:19.878 | 1:19.700 | +0.554 | 4 |
| 5 | 8 |  Fernando Alonso |
Renault | 1:20.135 | 1:19.996 | +0.850 | 5 |
| 6 | 4 | Antônio Pizzonia |
Williams-BMW | 1:20.019 | 1:20.170 | +1.024 | 6 |
| 7 | 3 |  Juan Pablo Montoya |
Williams-BMW | 1:19.821 | 1:20.199 | +1.053 | 7 |
| 8 | 11 |  Giancarlo Fisichella |
Sauber-Petronas | 1:19.668 | 1:20.324 | +1.178 | 8 |
| 9 | 7 | Jarno Trulli |
Renault | 1:19.879 | 1:20.411 | +1.265 | 9 |
| 10 | 6 |  Kimi Räikkönen |
McLaren-Mercedes | 1:20.066 | 1:20.570 | +1.424 | 10 |
| 11 | 14 | Mark Webber |
Jaguar-Cosworth | 1:21.452 | 1:20.730 | +1.584 | 11 |
| 12 | 5 | David Coulthard |
McLaren-Mercedes | 1:21.192 | 1:20.897 | +1.751 | 12 |
| 13 | 17 |  Olivier Panis |
Toyota | 1:20.491 | 1:21.068 | +1.922 | 13 |
| 14 | 15 |  Christian Klien |
Jaguar-Cosworth | 1:21.510 | 1:21.118 | +1.972 | 14 |
| 15 | 16 | Ricardo Zonta |
Toyota | 1:20.199 | 1:21.135 | +1.989 | 15 |
| 16 | 18 | Nick Heidfeld |
Jordan-Ford | 1:20.439 | 1:22.180 | +3.034 | 16 |
| 17 | 19 | Giorgio Pantano |
Jordan-Ford | 1:21.187 | 1:22.356 | +3.210 | 17 |
| 18 | 21 |  Zsolt Baumgartner |
Minardi-Cosworth | 1:24.656 | 1:24.329 | +5.183 | 18 |
| 19 | 20 | Gianmaria Bruni |
Minardi-Cosworth | 1:23.362 | 1:24.679 | +5.533 | 19 |
| 20 | 12 | Felipe Massa |
Sauber-Petronas | 1:19.658 | No time1 | 202 | |
Source:[16] | |||||||
- Notes
- ^1 – Multiple engine issues during practice, Sauber decided to save the Petronas engine and abort Massa's effort in the second qualifying session.
- ^2 – Felipe Massa received a 10-place grid penalty for an engine change.[17]
Race
Race report
At the start, Michael Schumacher comfortably kept his lead, while second-starting Rubens Barrichello was under pressure from Fernando Alonso, who had jumped up from fifth position. Both BARs had a slow getaway: Takuma Sato fell down to eighth, Jenson Button to fifth behind Juan Pablo Montoya. Ricardo Zonta's first race for Toyota got off to a rocky start: he was pushed by one of the Jordans and could not avoid hitting the back of Mark Webber's Jaguar. Zonta spun and rejoined in last place. He would later retire from the race.[15]
The Hungaroring's configuration had been altered over the winter, the organisers hoping to create more overtaking opportunities, but the layout still caused the field to spread out and there were very little overtakes. On lap 14, Kimi Räikkönen retired due to mechanical problems for the eighth time this season and on lap 43, the engine on Jarno Trulli's Renault failed. There were no other changes in the points-scoring positions for the remainder of the race. Button pressured Montoya for fourth place but never came closer than three seconds behind. Their respective teammates were fighting over sixth place but never went wheel-to-wheel.[15]
Schumacher scored a dominant victory over Barrichello and Alonso. The German only needed to score two more points than Barrichello to clinch a record-breaking seventh World Championship. The 1-2 finish was enough for Scuderia Ferrari to clinch their sixth consecutive Constructors' Championship.[15]
Race classification
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Tyre | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Michael Schumacher |
Ferrari | B | 70 | 1:35:26.131 | 1 | 10 |
| 2 | 2 | Rubens Barrichello |
Ferrari | B | 70 | + 4.696 | 2 | 8 |
| 3 | 8 | Fernando Alonso |
Renault | M | 70 | + 44.599 | 5 | 6 |
| 4 | 3 | Juan Pablo Montoya |
Williams-BMW | M | 70 | + 1:02.613 | 7 | 5 |
| 5 | 9 | Jenson Button |
BAR-Honda | M | 70 | + 1:07.439 | 4 | 4 |
| 6 | 10 | Takuma Sato |
BAR-Honda | M | 69 | + 1 Lap | 3 | 3 |
| 7 | 4 | Antônio Pizzonia |
Williams-BMW | M | 69 | + 1 Lap | 6 | 2 |
| 8 | 11 | Giancarlo Fisichella |
Sauber-Petronas | B | 69 | + 1 Lap | 8 | 1 |
| 9 | 5 | David Coulthard |
McLaren-Mercedes | M | 69 | + 1 Lap | 12 | |
| 10 | 14 | Mark Webber |
Jaguar-Cosworth | M | 69 | + 1 Lap | 11 | |
| 11 | 17 | Olivier Panis |
Toyota | M | 69 | + 1 Lap | 13 | |
| 12 | 18 | Nick Heidfeld |
Jordan-Ford | B | 68 | + 2 Laps | 16 | |
| 13 | 15 | Christian Klien |
Jaguar-Cosworth | M | 68 | + 2 Laps | 14 | |
| 14 | 20 | Gianmaria Bruni |
Minardi-Cosworth | B | 66 | + 4 Laps | 19 | |
| 15 | 21 | Zsolt Baumgartner |
Minardi-Cosworth | B | 65 | + 5 Laps | 18 | |
| Ret | 19 | Giorgio Pantano |
Jordan-Ford | B | 48 | Gearbox | 17 | |
| Ret | 7 | Jarno Trulli |
Renault | M | 41 | Engine | 9 | |
| Ret | 16 | Ricardo Zonta |
Toyota | M | 31 | Electronics | 15 | |
| Ret | 12 | Felipe Massa |
Sauber-Petronas | B | 21 | Brakes | 20 | |
| Ret | 6 | Kimi Räikkönen |
McLaren-Mercedes | M | 13 | Electrical | 10 | |
Source:[18] | ||||||||
Championship standings after the race
- Bold text and an asterisk indicates the World Champions.
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
- Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
