2004 Monaco Grand Prix
From WOI Encyclopedia Italia
The 2004 Monaco Grand Prix was a Formula One race held on May 23, 2004 at the Circuit de Monaco.
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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 several times. 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 got offline and crashed heavily in the tunnel. 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 prepared to pit for the race restart, Schumacher suddenly slowed in the tunnel, briefly locking his car's brakes; Schumacher and Montoya collided, pushing the F2004 into the tunnel wall, ending 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 half a second.
Classification
| Pos | No | Driver | Team | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 | Italy Jarno Trulli | Renault | 77 | 1:45'46.601 | 1 | 10 |
| 2 | 9 | UK Jenson Button | BAR-Honda | 77 | +0.497 secs | 2 | 8 |
| 3 | 2 | Brazil Rubens Barrichello | Ferrari | 77 | +75.766 secs | 6 | 6 |
| 4 | 3 | Colombia Juan Pablo Montoya | Williams-BMW | 76 | +1 Lap | 9 | 5 |
| 5 | 12 | Brazil Felipe Massa | Sauber-Petronas | 76 | +1 Lap | 16 | 4 |
| 6 | 16 | Brazil Cristiano da Matta | Toyota | 76 | +1 Lap | 15 | 3 |
| 7 | 18 | Germany Nick Heidfeld | Jordan-Ford | 75 | +2 Laps | 17 | 2 |
| 8 | 17 | France Olivier Panis | Toyota | 74 | +3 Laps | 13 | 1 |
| 9 | 21 | Hungary Zsolt Baumgartner | Minardi-Cosworth | 71 | +6 Laps | 19 | |
| 10 | 4 | Germany Ralf Schumacher | Williams-BMW | 69 | Gearbox | 12 | |
| Ret | 1 | Germany Michael Schumacher | Ferrari | 45 | Accident | 4 | |
| Ret | 8 | Spain Fernando Alonso | Renault | 41 | Accident | 3 | |
| Ret | 6 | Finland Kimi Räikkönen | McLaren-Mercedes | 27 | Pneumatics | 5 | |
| Ret | 20 | Italy Gianmaria Bruni | Minardi-Cosworth | 15 | Gearbox | 20 | |
| Ret | 19 | Italy Giorgio Pantano | Jordan-Ford | 12 | Transmission | 18 | |
| Ret | 14 | Australia Mark Webber | Jaguar-Cosworth | 11 | Loss of drive | 11 | |
| Ret | 10 | Japan Takuma Sato | BAR-Honda | 2 | Engine | 7 | |
| Ret | 5 | UK David Coulthard | McLaren-Mercedes | 2 | Accident | 8 | |
| Ret | 11 | Italy Giancarlo Fisichella | Sauber-Petronas | 2 | Accident | 10 | |
| Ret | 15 | Austria Christian Klien | Jaguar-Cosworth | 0 | Accident | 14 |
Notes
- Pole position: Jarno Trulli 1:13.985
- Fastest lap: Michael Schumacher 1:14.439
| Year of race | 2004 |
| Previous race in season | 2004 Spanish Grand Prix |
| Next race in season | 2004 European Grand Prix |
| Previous year's race | 2003 Monaco Grand Prix |
| Next year's race | 2005 Monaco Grand Prix |
