Iliana Posted September 22, 2004 Share Posted September 22, 2004 from f1racing.net Chinese Grand Prix Preview Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iliana Posted September 26, 2004 Author Share Posted September 26, 2004 Saturday qualifying Pos. Driver Team Time 1 R. Barrichello Ferrari 1:34.012 2 K. Räikkönen McLaren 1:34.178 3 J. Button BAR 1:34.295 4 F. Massa Sauber 1:34.759 5 R. Schumacher Williams 1:34.891 6 F. Alonso Renault 1:34.917 7 G. Fisichella Sauber 1:34.951 8 O. Panis Toyota 1:34.975 9 T. Sato BAR 1:34.993 10 D. Coulthard McLaren 1:35.029 11 JP. Montoya Williams 1:35.245 12 M. Webber Jaguar 1:35.286 13 J. Villeneuve Renault 1:35.384 14 R. Zonta Toyota 1:35.410 15 N. Heidfeld Jordan 1:36.507 16 C. Klien Jaguar 1:36.535 17 T. Glock Jordan 1:37.140 18 Z. Baumgartner Minardi 1:40.140 19 G. Bruni Minardi no time 20 M. Schumacher Ferrari no time Sunday race report from f1racing.net Rubens Barrichello won back-to-back Grand Prix for the first time in his career today with a lights-to-flag victory in the inaugural Chinese Grand Prix at Shanghai. While team mate Michael Schumacher suffered a fraught afternoon, Barrichello came home comfortably ahead of Button and Raikkonen. Beneath slightly muggy skies and a light breeze the air temperature reached a steamy twenty-nine degrees Centigrade and the track surface some thirty-seven degrees at the start of the Grand Prix. While Michel Shcumacher waited in the pit lane for the race to start so he could refuel, team mate Rubens Barrichello made a clean start to retain the lead from Kimi Raikkonen. Fernando Alonso moved up to third at the start ahead of Sauber's Felipe Massa with Jenson Button slipping to fifth. Fisichella rounded off the top six ahead of Ralf Schumacher and David Coulthard. Button passed Massa for fourth while the Brazilian fell back into the sights of his Sauber team mate. Fisichella eventually passed Massa who also lost position to Ralf Schumacher and faced increasing challenge from Coulthard. Button meanwhile caught and passed Fernando Alonso and set about closing in on the leading duo of Barrichello and Raikkonen. The Ferrari led the McLaren by just half a second on lap ten while Button was a further four seconds adrift. The first round of pit stops came on lap eleven with Massa the first to blink before Fisichella, Coulthard and Zonta visited the pits on the next lap. Meanwhile Michael Schumacher had contact with Christian Klien as the German tried to force his way through to fourteenth. On lap fifteen Michael Schumacher's afternoon got worse as he spun his Ferrari in the final sector but managed to resume without any damage. After the entire field had completed their first pit stops Barrichello led Raikkonen by less than a second with Button nine seconds behind in third. Alonso was a further ten seconds behind the BAR Honda but comfortably ahead of Ralf Schumacher, Fisichella, Coulthard and Zonta. Raikkonen pitted on lap twenty-seven for a brief fuel stop while Barrichello continued in the lead. Meanwhile the rest of the field followed something of a procession with no changes of position. Barrichello stopped for fuel and tyres on lap twenty-nine but managed to retain his lead over Raikkonen. Running in eleventh Michael Schumacher suffered a rear left puncture on lap thirty-five. The German recovered to the pit lane for a replacement. Ralf Schumacher had a spin on lap thirty-seven before diving into the pits to retire where the BMW WilliamsF1 team were not expecting him. Ralf had suffered a rear suspension problem after David Coulthard collided with him. With ten laps remaining Barrichello led Button, Raikkonen, alonso, Montoya, Sato, Fisichella and Massa. In the final five laps Raikkonen closed in on Button for a final charge for second place behind Barrichello. Barrichello kept his head to claim a ninth career victory from Jenson Button and Kimi Raikkonen. Fernando Alonso brought his Renault home in fourth ahead of Juan Pablo Montoya. Sato recovered well from his engine change penalty and starting from the back of the grid to seize sixth ahead of the two Saubers of Giancarlo Fisichella and Felipe Massa. Michael Schumacher's day ended in twelfth, though he recorded the lap record on the final lap of the race - 1m32.238s. The 2004 champion finished just one place behind returning 1997 champion Jacques Villeneuve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iliana Posted September 27, 2004 Author Share Posted September 27, 2004 Drivers' Championship after 16 races Pos. Driver Team Points 1 M. Schumacher Ferrari 136 2 R. Barrichello Ferrari 108 3 J. Button BAR 79 4 F. Alonso Renault 50 5 JP. Montoya Williams 46 = J. Trulli Renault 46 7 K. Raikkonen McLaren 34 8 T. Sato BAR 26 9 D. Coulthard McLaren 24 10 G. Fisichella Sauber 21 11 R. Schumacher Williams 12 12 F. Massa Sauber 11 13 M. Webber Jaguar 7 14 A. Pizzonia Williams 6 = O. Panis Toyota 6 16 C. Klien Jaguar 3 = C. Da Matta Toyota 3 = N. Heidfeld Jordan 3 19 T. Glock Jordan 2 20 Z. Baumgartner Minardi 1 - J. Villeneuve Renault 0 - R. Zonta Toyota 0 - G. Pantano Jordan 0 - G. Bruni Minardi 0 Constructors' Championship Pos. Team Points 1 Ferrari 244 2 BAR 105 3 Renault 96 4 Williams 64 5 McLaren 58 6 Sauber 32 7 Jaguar 10 8 Toyota 9 9 Jordan 5 10 Minardi 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HellenicFront Posted September 30, 2004 Share Posted September 30, 2004 that was a very nice circuit, I watched the race live at 1:30AM on the Speed Channel , good race. R, Schumacher's team's miscommunication was kind of funny when he pulled into the pit. Boy talk about being asleep at the switch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elastonpappou 13 Posted October 1, 2004 Share Posted October 1, 2004 There is something about F1 these days that makes you want to sleep!!! :P Whenever I want to have a nice afternoon nap I put Alpha TV in my house I watch F1 for a couple of minutes and thats it..... :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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