2004 Australian Grand Prix

The 2004 Australian Grand Prix was a Formula One race held on 7 March 2004 at the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit. Michael Schumacher won the race for Ferrari from pole position in a very dominant fashion, with his team-mate Rubens Barrichello finishing behind him in second. This one-two finish gave Ferrari a strong 9 point lead in the constructors' standings after just one race. Williams, Renault and BAR gathered points together, while McLaren, a team that had enjoyed success in years preceding this, only managed one point, with David Coulthard finishing a lapped 8th.

Report
Qualifying resulted in a Ferrari one-two, with Juan Pablo Montoya third on the grid for Williams. Gianmaria Bruni, Christian Klien and Olivier Panis all failed to set a qualifying time.

The race proved that Ferrari once again had a dominant car, with Michael Schumacher winning from team-mate Rubens Barrichello in Ferrari's first one-two since Japan 2002, while the rest of the field was over 20 seconds behind. Schumacher led every one of the 58 race laps. At the start, Montoya was jumped by the Renault of Fernando Alonso. Montoya attempted to regain the place by going around the outside of the Spaniard into the first turn, but outbraked himself and ran wide. This dropped him behind his team-mate Ralf Schumacher, who'd qualified 8th. Despite repassing Ralf Schumacher on-track, the Colombian ended up behind him again by the race's end in fifth place.

Fernando Alonso gave Renault a podium with third place, while Jenson Button got BAR off the mark with sixth. Jarno Trulli finished 7th in the Renault and was the first lapped runner. McLaren seemed to be less competitive than in recent years, with Kimi Räikkönen becoming the first retirement of the year, dropping out with an engine problem, and with David Coulthard picking up just 1 point in eighth place. They had only qualified in the mid-field, with Räikkönen and Coulthard tenth and twelfth respectively.

Sauber's Giancarlo Fisichella had a long battle for position in the midfield with Jordan's Nick Heidfeld. Fisichella passed Heidfeld, who later dropped out of the race with a transmission failure.

Other retirements were Zsolt Baumgartner (Minardi), Mark Webber (Jaguar) and Felipe Massa (Sauber). Mark Webber qualified in sixth place, and was running in the race with the Williams and BAR teams, but he suffered a transmission failure on lap 29. Felipe Massa survived a full 360 degree-spin before pulling off with a blown engine.

Lap leaders

 * Michael Schumacher (1-58)

Standings after the race

 * Drivers' Championship standings


 * Constructors' Championship standings


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