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25px Monaco  2004 Monaco Grand Prix
Race details
Race 6 of 18 in the 2004 Formula One season
Monte Carlo Formula 1 track map.svg
Date May 23, 2004
Official name LXII Grand Prix de Monaco
Location Circuit de Monaco, Monaco
Course Street circuit
3.34 km (2.075 mi)
Distance 77 laps, 257.18 km (159.775 mi)
Weather Fine
Pole position
Driver 25px Italy Jarno Trulli Renault
Time 1:13.985
Fastest lap
Driver 25px Germany Michael Schumacher Ferrari
Time 1:14.439 on lap 23
Podium
First 25px Italy Jarno Trulli Renault
Second 25px UK Jenson Button BAR-Honda
Third 25px Brazil Rubens Barrichello Ferrari
Schmacher and Sato at Monaco 2004

Michael Schumacher and Takuma Sato, in qualifying, en route to setting the fifth and eighth best times respectively

The 2004 Monaco Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on May 23, 2004 at the Circuit de Monaco in Monte Carlo, Monaco. The race, contested over 78 laps, was the sixth round of the 2004 Formula One season. It was won by Jarno Trulli, who took the first, and only, victory of his career for the Renault team. BAR driver, Jenson Button finished in second position, just one second behind the winner. Rubens Barrichello took the third and final podium spot for Ferrari after his team-mate, Michael Schumacher retired due to collision damage during a safety car period, ending his perfect start to the season. Trulli's team-mate, Fernando Alonso, also crashed at the tunnel, like Schumacher, during the race, and consequently lost second place.


Summary[]

One of the most eventful races of the 2004 season, the Monaco Grand Prix saw Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher qualify in fourth place (his time was actually fifth best; his brother Ralf qualified second, but was dropped ten places as a penalty for changing engines). Italian Renault driver Jarno Trulli took his first pole position and made it his first race win, breaking the elder Schumacher's streak of race wins.

The race began with Trulli on pole and BAR's Jenson Button behind; Renault's Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher occupied the second row. After two aborted starts (Olivier Panis stalled his Toyota and Trulli's Renault leaked coolant onto the track) the parade lap began; Panis stalled again and started the race from the pits. As the race began, BAR's Takuma Sato made an excellent start, moving from eighth to fourth in seconds. Presently Sato's engine began smoking; on the third lap, it exploded spectacularly and released an enormous cloud of smoke, in which Sauber's Giancarlo Fisichella collided with McLaren’s David Coulthard and overturned. Both drivers were unhurt but out of the race, as was Sato.

Out came the yellow flags, and the race proceeded under the safety car until the eighth lap, at which point Alonso fought Trulli for the lead, followed by Button. When the race restarted, Juan Pablo Montoya moved past Rubens Barrichello to take sixth position, and Trulli set three consecutive fastest laps, but was only able to increase his lead to 1.2 seconds over Alonso. The leaders began their first pit stops on lap 18, and by Michael Schumacher's stop on lap 26, Trulli led from Alonso, with Schumacher now in third ahead of both Kimi Räikkönen and Button.

On lap 28, Räikkönen retired with mechanical troubles, joining Jaguar's Christian Klien and Mark Webber, as well as Jordan's Giorgio Pantano and Minardi's Gianmaria Bruni on the sidelines.

In an attempt to lap Ralf Schumacher, who was down in 11th position, Alonso tried to pass him offline around the outside in the tunnel and crashed heavily. Alonso was enraged by this incident, and publicly accused Ralf of dangerous driving. The safety car was immediately deployed, and all of the front-runners (except Michael Schumacher and Montoya) took the opportunity to pit. As the safety car prepares to pit for the race restart, it is common for the lead driver to slow down, to bunch up the field and choose the opportunity to accelerate to the starting line. It is also common for drivers to swerve back and forth, accelerate and decelerate rapidly to impart heat into their brakes and tires. Montoya (who was a lap down) seemed to be watching his mirrors and not what was happening in front of him as they entered the tunnel. Schumacher suddenly slowed and locked his left front brake after apparently being surprised by the slow speed of the safety car and Montoya moved to the inside trying to avoid running into the back of Schumacher. However as Schumacher continued there was no space between his car and the barrier for Montoya's and he clipped Montoya's left front tyre with his right rear, spun sideways and hit the barriers. This accident ended Schumacher's hopes for a sixth consecutive victory and a perfect season.

As the order settled down towards the end of the race, Trulli led from Button, with Barrichello in third. The top three were a lap in front of the rest of the field, and the only drivers with a chance of winning the race. Barrichello needed to pit with 22 laps remaining, and rejoined too far behind the top two in order to make a challenge. From then on, it was a straight fight between Trulli and Button, but Monaco is notoriously the hardest circuit to make a passing move on. Therefore, Button having no chance of passing, Trulli took the win by close to half a second.

Thursday drivers[]

The bottom 6 teams in the 2003 Constructors' Championship were entitled to run a third car in free practice on Thursday. These drivers drove on Thursday but did not compete in qualifying or the race.

Constructor Nat Driver
BAR-Honda 25px UK Anthony Davidson
Sauber-Petronas -
Jaguar-Cosworth 25px Sweden Björn Wirdheim
Toyota 25px Brazil Ricardo Zonta
Jordan-Ford 25px Germany Timo Glock
Minardi-Cosworth 25px Belgium Bas Leinders

Classification[]

Qualifying[]

Pos No Driver Constructor Time[1] Gap
1 7 25px Italy Jarno Trulli Renault 1:13.985
2 4 25px Germany Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW 1:14.345 +0.360
3 9 25px UK Jenson Button BAR-Honda 1:14.396 +0.411
4 8 25px Spain Fernando Alonso Renault 1:14.408 +0.423
5 1 25px Germany Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:14.516 +0.531
6 6 25px Finland Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 1:14.592 +0.607
7 2 25px Brazil Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 1:14.716 +0.731
8 10 25px Japan Takuma Sato BAR-Honda 1:14.827 +0.842
9 5 25px UK David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1:14.951 +0.966
10 3 25px Flag of Colombia Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW 1:15.039 +1.054
11 11 25px Italy Giancarlo Fisichella Sauber-Petronas 1:15.352 +1.367
12 14 25px Australia Mark Webber Jaguar-Cosworth 1:15.725 +1.740
13 17 25px France Olivier Panis Toyota 1:15.859 +1.874
14 15 25px Austria Christian Klien Jaguar-Cosworth 1:15.919 +1.934
15 16 25px Brazil Cristiano da Matta Toyota 1:16.169 +2.184
16 12 25px Brazil Felipe Massa Sauber-Petronas 1:16.248 +2.263
17 18 25px Germany Nick Heidfeld Jordan-Ford 1:16.488 +2.503
18 19 25px Italy Giorgio Pantano Jordan-Ford 1:17.443 +3.458
19 21 25px Flag of Hungary Zsolt Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth 1:20.060 +6.075
20 20 25px Italy Gianmaria Bruni Minardi-Cosworth 1:20.115 +6.130

[2]

Race[]

Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 7 25px Italy Jarno Trulli Renault 77 1:45:46.601 1 10
2 9 25px UK Jenson Button BAR-Honda 77 +0.497 2 8
3 2 25px Brazil Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 77 +1:15.766 6 6
4 3 25px Flag of Colombia Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW 76 +1 Lap 9 5
5 12 25px Brazil Felipe Massa Sauber-Petronas 76 +1 Lap 16 4
6 16 25px Brazil Cristiano da Matta Toyota 76 +1 Lap 15 3
7 18 25px Germany Nick Heidfeld Jordan-Ford 75 +2 Laps 17 2
8 17 25px France Olivier Panis Toyota 74 +3 Laps 13 1
9 21 25px Flag of Hungary Zsolt Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth 71 +6 Laps 19  
10 4 25px Germany Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW 69 Gearbox 12  
Ret 1 25px Germany Michael Schumacher Ferrari 45 Collision damage 4  
Ret 8 25px Spain Fernando Alonso Renault 41 Accident 3  
Ret 6 25px Finland Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 27 Engine 5  
Ret 20 25px Italy Gianmaria Bruni Minardi-Cosworth 15 Gearbox 20  
Ret 19 25px Italy Giorgio Pantano Jordan-Ford 12 Transmission 18  
Ret 14 25px Australia Mark Webber Jaguar-Cosworth 11 Gearbox 11  
Ret 10 25px Japan Takuma Sato BAR-Honda 2 Engine 7  
Ret 5 25px UK David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 2 Collision 8  
Ret 11 25px Italy Giancarlo Fisichella Sauber-Petronas 2 Collision 10  
Ret 15 25px Austria Christian Klien Jaguar-Cosworth 0 Accident 14  

[3]

Notes[]

  • Lap Leaders: Jarno Trulli 72 (1-23, 26-42, 46-77), Fernando Alonso 1 (24) and Michael Schumacher 4 (25, 43-45)
  • This was Jarno Trulli's first pole position and only victory in his career.
  • This race marked the only retirement of the season for Michael Schumacher and Giancarlo Fisichella.
  • Olivier Panis started this race from the pit lane.
  • Both of the Jaguar Racing R5 cars ran with Ocean's Twelve and Steinmetz Diamonds livery to represent the upcoming film, Ocean's Twelve starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt, both of which were present at the Monaco Grand Prix along with other special guests such as Roger Moore. As Klien crashed in the first lap, the diamond was lost in the incident.[4]

Standings after the race[]

Drivers' Championship standings
Pos Driver Points
1 25px Germany Michael Schumacher 50
2 25px Brazil Rubens Barrichello 38
3 25px UK Jenson Button 32
4 25px Italy Jarno Trulli 31
5 25px Flag of Colombia Juan Pablo Montoya 23
Constructors' Championship standings
Pos Constructor Points
1 25px Italy Ferrari 88
2 25px France Renault 52
3 25px UK BAR-Honda 40
4 25px UK Williams-BMW 35
5 25px Switzerland Sauber-Petronas 7
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References[]


Previous race:
2004 Spanish Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
2004 season
Next race:
2004 European Grand Prix
Previous race:
2003 Monaco Grand Prix
Monaco Grand Prix Next race:
2005 Monaco Grand Prix
Smallwikipedialogo.png This page uses some content from Wikipedia. The original article was at 2004 Monaco Grand Prix. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Autopedia, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.


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