The 2004 French Grand Prix (officially known as the Formula 1 Mobil 1 Grand Prix de France 2004) was a Formula One motor race that took place on 4 July 2004 at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours in Nevers, France. It was the tenth round of the 2004 FIA Formula One World Championship.
Famously, championship leader Michael Schumacher employed a four-stop strategy to beat Renault's Fernando Alonso and Ferrari teammate Rubens Barrichello.
Background The event was held at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours in Nevers for the fourteenth time in the circuit's history across the weekend of 2–4 July. The Grand Prix was the tenth round of the 2004 Formula One World Championship and the 54th running of the French Grand Prix as a round of the Formula One World Championship.
Championship standings before the race Going into the weekend, Michael Schumacher led the Drivers' Championship with 80 points, 16 points ahead of his teammate Rubens Barrichello in second, and 36 ahead of BAR's Jenson Button in third. Ferrari, with 142 points, led the Constructors' Championship from Renault with 66 and BAR-Honda with 58 points.
Driver changes Williams reserve driver Marc Gené replaced Ralf Schumacher, following the German's back injury at the previous round. He would also drive in the next Grand Prix.
Practice Four free practice sessions were held for the event. On Friday it rained, but the first session was unsurprisingly topped by the Ferraris of Rubens Barrichello and Michael Schumacher. The second session, however, saw Toyota's Cristiano da Matta on top, six tenths ahead of Jarno Trulli in the Renault, with Schumacher down in fifth.
On Saturday, the sky was clear and Michael Schumacher topped the third session, ahead of David Coulthard in the McLaren. The German dropped down to third place in the fourth and final session, behind Coulthard's teammate Kimi Räikkönen and BAR's Jenson Button.
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 N/A N/A Jaguar-Cosworth Björn Wirdheim Toyota Ricardo Zonta 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.
Pos No Driver ConstructorQ1 Time Q2 Time Gap Grid 1 8 Fernando Alonso Renault1:13.750 1:13.698 — 1 2 1 Michael Schumacher Ferrari1:13.541 1:13.971 +0.273 2 3 5 David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes1:13.649 1:13.987 +0.289 3 4 9 Jenson Button BAR-Honda1:13.772 1:13.995 +0.297 4 5 7 Jarno Trulli Renault1:13.949 1:14.070 +0.372 5 6 3 Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW1:13.377 1:14.172 +0.474 6 7 10 Takuma Sato BAR-Honda1:14.130 1:14.240 +0.542 7 8 4 Marc Gené Williams-BMW1:14.133 1:14.275 +0.577 8 9 6 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes1:13.736 1:14.346 +0.648 9 10 2 Rubens Barrichello FerrariNo time 1:14.478 +0.780 10 11 16 Cristiano da Matta Toyota1:14.245 1:14.553 +0.855 11 12 14 Mark Webber Jaguar-Cosworth1:15.332 1:14.798 +1.100 12 13 15 Christian Klien Jaguar-Cosworth1:15.205 1:15.065 +1.367 13 14 17 Olivier Panis Toyota1:14.540 1:15.130 +1.432 14 15 11 Giancarlo Fisichella Sauber-Petronas1:15.793 1:16.177 +2.479 15 16 12 Felipe Massa Sauber-Petronas1:14.627 1:16.200 +2.502 16 17 18 Nick Heidfeld Jordan-Ford1:16.366 1:16.807 +3.109 17 18 19 Giorgio Pantano Jordan-Ford1:15.913 1:17.462 +3.764 18 19 20 Gianmaria Bruni Minardi-Cosworth1:18.070 1:17.913 +4.215 19 20 21 Zsolt Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth1:18.108 1:18.247 +4.549 20 Notes – Rubens Barrichello was left without a time in Q1 due to a hydraulic problem.
Race Race report Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher kept their positions at the start, while Jarno Trulli took advantage of a slow-starting David Coulthard and managed to pass Jenson Button to take third position. Schumacher kept with Alonso as they traded fastest laps, until the German pitted on the end of lap 11. The leading Renault managed to continue three more laps and, after his stop, had grown his lead to three seconds.
Schumacher stopped for a second time on lap 28 and then set a series of fastest laps, which led to Alonso falling behind him after his stop four laps later. Another stop by the Ferrari on lap 42 was a sign of low fuel levels, which explained his superior pace. After Alonso made his third and final stop on lap 45, he rejoined in second place but never managed to match Schumacher's lap times. The gap had opened up to over 20 seconds by lap 57, when the World Champion pitted for a fourth time and returned to the track, still seven seconds ahead of his nearest rival. Schumacher scored his ninth win of the season.
Behind the leading duo, David Coulthard had started third but trouble with the fuel hose on his second stop, dropped him down to eighth, which became sixth at the finish. Jenson Button had started fourth but nearly stalled his engine at the third stop. This left Rubens Barrichello and Jarno Trulli fighting over third place, with the Brazilian getting the upper hand with an audacious overtaking manoeuvre just two corners from the finish line.
Race classification Pos No Driver Constructor Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 1 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 70 1:30:18.133 2 10 2 8 Fernando Alonso Renault 70 +8.329 1 8 3 2 Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 70 +31.622 10 6 4 7 Jarno Trulli Renault 70 +32.082 5 5 5 9 Jenson Button BAR-Honda 70 +32.482 4 4 6 5 David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 70 +35.520 3 3 7 6 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 70 +36.230 9 2 8 3 Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW 70 +43.419 6 1 9 14 Mark Webber Jaguar-Cosworth 70 +52.394 12 10 4 Marc Gené Williams-BMW 70 +58.166 8 11 15 Christian Klien Jaguar-Cosworth 69 +1 lap 13 12 11 Giancarlo Fisichella Sauber-Petronas 69 +1 lap 15 13 12 Felipe Massa Sauber-Petronas 69 +1 lap 16 14 16 Cristiano da Matta Toyota 69 +1 lap 11 15 17 Olivier Panis Toyota 68 +2 laps 14 16 18 Nick Heidfeld Jordan-Ford 68 +2 laps 17 17 19 Giorgio Pantano Jordan-Ford 67 +3 laps 18 18 20 Gianmaria Bruni Minardi-Cosworth 65 Gearbox 19 21 Zsolt Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth 31 Spin 20 10 Takuma Sato BAR-Honda 15 Engine 7
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Michael Schumacher 90 2 Rubens Barrichello 68 3 Jenson Button 48 4 Jarno Trulli 46 5 Fernando Alonso 33Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Ferrari 158 2 Renault 79 3 BAR-Honda 62 4 Williams-BMW 37 5 McLaren-Mercedes 22Source:
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
See also 2004 Magny-Cours F3000 round
References