2004 British Grand Prix

Background

The race was preceded by a demonstration of contemporary Formula One cars on Regent Street in London, including former British Formula One World Champion Nigel Mansell driving the Jordan EJ14. The event attracted an estimated 500,000 spectators.

After the demonstration, Minardi's Sporting Director John Walton died of a heart attack. Minardi decided to withdraw its cars from the third practice session on Saturday morning.

Practice

Four free practice sessions were held for the event. On Friday, the first session was topped by the Ferraris of Rubens Barrichello and Michael Schumacher. The second session saw McLaren's Kimi Räikkönen on top, just five thousands ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella in the Sauber.

On Saturday, Räikkönen topped the third session as well, ahead of Jenson Button in the BAR. And both drivers repeated their feats in the fourth and final session.

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.

Qualifying

Qualifying on Saturday consisted of two sessions. In the first session, drivers went out one by one in the order in which they classified at the previous race. Each driver was allowed to set one lap time. The result determined the running order in the second session: the fastest driver in the first session was allowed to go last in the second session, which usually provided the benefit of a cleaner track. In the second session, drivers were again allowed to set one lap time, which determined the order on the grid for the race on Sunday, with the fastest driver scoring pole position.

On this particular weekend, the first qualifying session was unusual. Teams were expecting rain later that day, so they were deliberately going slow in the first session, aiming for an early slot in the second session. Michael Schumacher spun his car and Rubens Barrichello went wide at Vale corner. Other drivers simply and unsubtly lifted off in the final sector, cruising across the start-finish line at walking pace. Eventually, the rain never came.

;Notes

• – Fernando Alonso, Gianmaria Bruni, Zsolt Baumgartner and Giancarlo Fisichella received a 10-place grid penalty for engine changes.
• – Olivier Panis received a 5-place grid penalty for impeding Felipe Massa.
• – Nick Heidfeld did not set a time in Q1 because he hoped for rain in Q2.
• – Giancarlo Fisichella did not set a time in either section to save fuel and tyres.

Race

The race was held on 11 July 2004 and was run for 60 laps.

Race report

The race started off relatively calm with Kimi Räikkönen managing to hold on to the lead ahead of Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button. Räikkönen showed the best pace, while being able to hold out two more laps before pitting. But it was Michael Schumacher, starting in fourth, who set five consecutive fastest laps while the frontrunners stopped and he managed to open up a gap of more than 20 seconds to his rivals. When the German pitted and rejoined the race on lap 16, it turned out he had jumped ahead of all three drivers and merged into the lead of the race.

Räikkönen tried to put pressure on Schumacher but the McLaren had to pit again on lap 28, while the Ferrari could go on to lap 37. Meanwhile, Button had passed Barrichello in the first round of stops, but the Brazilian was back in front after the second round. Giancarlo Fisichella in the Sauber looked set for an impressive fifth place.

On lap 39, Jarno Trulli had a big crash coming out of Bridge corner. His rear suspension seemed to have failed and his car rolled over into the gravel. Trulli was unhurt but the tyre barrier needed repairing, so the safety car was deployed. This gave Räikkönen the chance to close all the way up to Schumacher, but after the restart, he was unable to match the leader's pace and he had to settle for second. Barrichello completed the podium. Fisichella lost out to Juan Pablo Montoya but scored a respectable sixth place at the finish.

Race classification

Championship standings after the race

• Bold text and an asterisk indicates who still has a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion. ;Drivers' Championship standings

;Constructors' Championship standings

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

References

Year_of_race = 2004 | Previous_year's_race = 2003 British Grand Prix | Next_year's_race = 2005 British Grand Prix

References

1. "2004 FORMULA 1 Foster's British Grand Prix - Race".
2. ''[[F1 Racing]]''. August 2004.
3. (23 June 2004). "Formula 1 comes to Regent Street". Evening Standard.
4. (7 July 2004). "F1 drivers burn rubber on London Streets". The Guardian.
5. (7 July 2004). "London event a success". Motorsport.com.
6. (6 July 2004). "London GP 'could happen'". BBC.
7. (10 July 2004). "Practice 3: Raikkonen still top".
8. "FORMULA 1 ™ MOBIL 1 GRAND PRIX DE FRANCE 2004 - PRACTICE 1".
9. (10 July 2004). "Practice 4: Kimi again".
10. "Deciding the grid - A history of F1 qualifying formats".
11. Elizalde, Pablo. (7 April 2004). "2004 British Grand Prix Review".
12. "Qualifying Report - 3-2-1 lift-off!".
13. "2004 British Grand Prix – Saturday Qualifying Results". Formula1.com Limited.
14. (11 July 2004). "British Grand Prix Starting Grid". [[AtlasF1]].
15. (11 July 2004). "British Grand Prix Review". [[AtlasF1]].
16. "2004 British Grand Prix".
17. "2004 British Grand Prix – Race Results". Formula1.com Limited.
18. "Britain 2004 - Championship • STATS F1".