The 2004 Brazilian Grand Prix (officially the Formula 1 Grande Prêmio do Brasil 2004) was a Formula One motor race held on 24 October 2004 at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace. It was Race 18 of 18 in the 2004 FIA Formula One World Championship. It marked the first time that a GP in Brazil was held at the end of the F1 season. Juan Pablo Montoya won the race after starting from second on the grid, Kimi Räikkönen finished second after starting third and Rubens Barrichello finished third, his only podium finish at his home event.

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 Robert Doornbos Minardi-Cosworth Bas Leinders

Report Background Ricardo Zonta returned to his home race for the Toyota team, replacing Olivier Panis, who had retired from the sport after the previous race. It was the last race for Gianmaria Bruni and Zsolt Baumgartner and the Jaguar team. It was also the last race in which Sid Watkins took part in the role of medical officer.

Qualifying In qualifying, Barrichello also achieved the fastest lap and secured pole position ahead of Montoya and Räikkönen. It was Barrichello's 13th career pole and his last until the 2009 Brazilian Grand Prix.

Race The race started with a damp track. Most drivers began on intermediate tyres, with only Alonso, Villeneuve and Coulthard opting for dry tyres. At the start, Barrichello maintained the lead, but the Brazilian driver was overtaken after a few corners by Räikkönen. Montoya, however, got off to a bad start and was relegated to fourth place. The intermediate tires soon proved to be unsuitable for the track, which began to dry out. The first to mount dry tires was Ralf Schumacher, during the 4th lap, and he was followed by every other driver still on intermediate tires, handing Alonso the lead of the race. Meanwhile, Räikkönen and Montoya engaged in an intense duel exiting the pit lane, with the Colombian getting the better of his rival. After tire changes, Alonso led ahead of Montoya, Räikkönen, Ralf Schumacher, Sato, Barrichello, Villeneuve and Coulthard. Alonso gave up first place to Montoya at the end of the 18th lap when he returned to the pits to refuel.

On lap 23, Webber attempted to overtake his teammate Klien, but the two came into contact. Webber was forced to retire, while Klien returned to the pits to repair his car. At the head of the race, Räikkönen followed Montoya closely, but the Williams driver managed to control him without any particular problems. Further back, Barrichello tries to recover from Sato. The second series of pit stops brings no changes in position between these four drivers, but allows Alonso to move up to third place, ahead of Ralf Schumacher. On lap 32, however, Sato makes a mistake at the first braking, giving up fifth place to Barrichello. Montoya had a good lead over Räikkönen and was driving a car with more fuel.

The third series of pit stops proved decisive. Alonso, the only one among the leading drivers to make two stops, refueled on lap 47, followed in sequence by Ralf Schumacher, Barrichello, Montoya and Michael Schumacher, who returned to the pits at the same time on lap 50. Räikkönen, leading the race, pushed hard to try to overtake his rival, but when the Finn also made his pit stop, on lap 55, he returned to the track just one second behind Montoya. Behind him, Barrichello prevailed against his direct competitors in the duel for third place. A queue of cars formed behind him, with Alonso a few tenths ahead of Sato, Ralf Schumacher and Michael Schumacher. At the front of the race, Räikkönen tried in vain to put pressure on Montoya, but the Colombian was not distracted and took his first win of the season ahead of Räikkönen, Barrichello, Alonso and Ralf Schumacher. For Montoya it was the 4th victory of his career, and for Williams it was the last victory until the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix. It would be Barrichello's first finish at Interlagos in ten years and his only podium, with third place; his previous finish at the circuit being at the season opening in 1994 (a fourth place).

Classification

Qualifying Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Time Q2 Time Gap Grid 1 2 Rubens Barrichello Ferrari1:09.822 1:10.646 — 1 2 3 Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW1:09.862 1:10.850 +0.204 2 3 6 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes1:10.440 1:10.892 +0.246 3 4 12 Felipe Massa Sauber-Petronas1:09.930 1:10.922 +0.276 4 5 9 Jenson Button BAR-Honda1:10.607 1:11.092 +0.446 5 6 10 Takuma Sato BAR-Honda1:10.373 1:11.120 +0.474 6 7 4 Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW1:10.258 1:11.131 +0.485 7 8 1 Michael Schumacher Ferrari1:10.192 1:11.386 +0.740 18 9 8 Fernando Alonso Renault1:10.637 1:11.454 +0.808 8 10 16 Jarno Trulli Toyota1:10.478 1:11.483 +0.837 9 11 11 Giancarlo Fisichella Sauber-Petronas1:10.467 1:11.571 +0.925 10 12 14 Mark Webber Jaguar-Cosworth1:11.230 1:11.665 +1.019 11 13 5 David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes1:10.418 1:11.750 +1.104 12 14 7 Jacques Villeneuve Renault1:10.708 1:11.836 +1.190 13 15 17 Ricardo Zonta Toyota1:11.315 1:11.974 +1.328 14 16 15 Christian Klien Jaguar-Cosworth1:11.912 1:12.211 +1.565 15 17 18 Nick Heidfeld Jordan-Ford1:11.394 1:12.829 +2.183 16 18 19 Timo Glock Jordan-Ford1:12.242 1:13.502 +2.856 17 19 21 Zsolt Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth1:13.032 1:13.550 +2.904 19 20 20 Gianmaria Bruni Minardi-Cosworth1:12.916 No time 20 Notes – Gianmaria Bruni did not get time in Q2 due to suspension problems. – Michael Schumacher, Zsolt Baumgartner and Gianmaria Bruni received a 10-place grid penalty for engine changes.

Race Pos No Driver Constructor Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 3 Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW 71 1:28:01.451 2 10 2 6 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 71 +1.022 3 8 3 2 Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 71 +24.099 1 6 4 8 Fernando Alonso Renault 71 +48.508 8 5 5 4 Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW 71 +49.740 7 4 6 10 Takuma Sato BAR-Honda 71 +50.248 6 3 7 1 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 71 +50.626 18 2 8 12 Felipe Massa Sauber-Petronas 71 +1:02.310 4 1 9 11 Giancarlo Fisichella Sauber-Petronas 71 +1:03.842 10 10 7 Jacques Villeneuve Renault 70 +1 Lap 13 11 5 David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 70 +1 Lap 12 12 16 Jarno Trulli Toyota 70 +1 Lap 9 13 17 Ricardo Zonta Toyota 70 +1 Lap 14 14 15 Christian Klien Jaguar-Cosworth 69 +2 Laps 15 15 19 Timo Glock Jordan-Ford 69 +2 Laps 17 16 21 Zsolt Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth 67 +4 Laps PL 17 20 Gianmaria Bruni Minardi-Cosworth 67 +4 Laps PL 14 Mark Webber Jaguar-Cosworth 23 Collision 11 18 Nick Heidfeld Jordan-Ford 15 Clutch 16 9 Jenson Button BAR-Honda 3 Engine 5 Notes – Zsolt Baumgartner and Gianmaria Bruni started the race from the pitlane.

Championship standings after the race Bold text and an asterisk indicates the World Champions.

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Michael Schumacher* 148 2 Rubens Barrichello 114 3 Jenson Button 85 4 Fernando Alonso 59 5 Juan Pablo Montoya 58Source:

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Ferrari* 262 2 BAR-Honda 119 3 Renault 105 4 Williams-BMW 88 5 McLaren-Mercedes 69Source:

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

Footnotes

References