2004 Australian GP: Schumacher dominates as Ferrari celebrate a one-two

The world champion picked up exactly where he had left off in 2003. Michael Schumacher won the 2004 Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park from pole position. He led all 58 laps and also set the fastest lap of the race. Team-mate Rubens Barrichello completed the Ferrari one-two. Third place went to Fernando Alonso in the Renault, who had already secured his podium at the first corner.

Pole, win, fastest lap and leading every lap: according to Wikipedia, that made it Schumacher's fourth grand slam and his second with Ferrari. It was also his 71st Grand Prix win (grandprix.com).

It was the first race since 2001 without launch control and fully automatic gearboxes. The FIA had banned both after the 2003 season (Wikipedia), so the starts were once again more in the drivers' hands. Schumacher got away best from pole. Barrichello briefly tried to attack him in the opening phase but then backed off (grandprix.com).

Behind them, the fight for third was settled. Juan Pablo Montoya had started 3rd in the Williams and braked too late into Turn 1. Alonso, starting from 5th, had to put his wheels on the grass to avoid him, but he got past Montoya. The Colombian dropped to seventh. Alonso later said Montoya had pushed him “onto the grass” (grandprix.com). Jarno Trulli in the second Renault made a superb start from 9th on the grid and briefly ran fifth at Turn 1. Then Takuma Sato in the BAR hit him from behind. Both cars took light damage: Trulli's diffuser was damaged and Sato damaged his nose (Wikipedia, grandprix.com).

The two Ferraris pulled away straight away. After four laps they were two seconds clear of Alonso, and after eight laps the gap was already five seconds (Wikipedia). Both had started on a light fuel load: Barrichello made his first refuelling stop on lap 11, Schumacher a lap later (crash.net). Barrichello had to cope with brake problems in the closing stages. Towards the end, Schumacher was told over the radio to slow down and only lapped in the 1:30s (crash.net). At the flag he was 13.605 seconds ahead of Barrichello, with Alonso 34.673 seconds behind (Wikipedia). The fastest lap, a 1:24.125 on lap 29, was also a new lap record (Wikipedia).

Alonso could not match the Ferraris' pace. He did pull away from the challengers behind him, though, and afterwards called the podium “everything we could have hoped for” (grandprix.com). The battle for fourth was more exciting. Jenson Button held that position for a while. At his second stop the fuel nozzle jammed and Ralf Schumacher moved past (grandprix.com, crash.net). Montoya struggled with a poorly balanced car and graining tyres. His pit stops went wrong more than once, and at his third stop the right-rear wheel caused a hold-up. Even so, he passed Button on lap 38 and finished fifth (grandprix.com).

Six drivers were not classified:

• Kimi Räikkönen, McLaren: He stalled at the start but recovered most of the places he had lost (grandprix.com). He retired with an engine failure after 9 laps, the first retirement of the season.
• Zsolt Baumgartner, Minardi: He went out after 13 laps with an electrical fault.
• Mark Webber, Jaguar: Having started 6th on the grid, he was running eighth behind Montoya when he lost sixth and seventh gears. With only five gears left he could not continue (grandprix.com). He retired after 29 laps, with the official reason given as the gearbox.
• Nick Heidfeld, Jordan: The clutch failed during a pit stop and his car got stuck in first gear (grandprix.com). The Jordan hit two mechanics, who escaped with bruises (Wikipedia). Officially, Heidfeld retired after 43 laps with a gearbox failure.
• Gianmaria Bruni, Minardi: He struggled with misfires from around lap 20 (grandprix.com) and was not classified after 43 laps.
• Felipe Massa, Sauber: He had a thrilling duel with Räikkönen and passed him on lap 10 (crash.net). He spun at Turn 5 on lap 19 (grandprix.com). An engine failure ended his race after 44 laps.

Winners: The biggest gainer was a debutant. Christian Klien started his first Formula 1 race (Wikipedia) for Jaguar from 19th and finished eleventh, a gain of eight places. Ralf Schumacher went from 8th on the grid to fourth, while David Coulthard (from 12 to 8) and Giancarlo Fisichella (from 14 to 10) also gained four places each. Fisichella had moved to Sauber over the winter. According to crash.net, he had to fight his way past Heidfeld, the driver who had taken his seat at Jordan, with wheel-to-wheel contact along the way. Coulthard's point was McLaren's only one, and for him it was just “a very small consolation” (grandprix.com).

Losers: Because of his retirement, Webber lost twelve places compared with his grid position, and Räikkönen lost ten. That meant McLaren's start to the season went almost completely wrong. Montoya and Button each lost two places, while Trulli saved seventh despite his damaged car. The two Toyota cars of Cristiano da Matta and Olivier Panis finished two laps down in 12th and 13th, and Giorgio Pantano was fourteenth on his Jordan debut.

After the first race, Michael Schumacher led the 2004 standings with 10 points, ahead of Barrichello on 8 and Alonso on 6. Behind them came Ralf Schumacher (5), Montoya (4), Button (3), Trulli (2) and Coulthard (1). In the constructors' standings, Ferrari's 18 points were already twice as many as Williams had (9). Renault were third on 8 points, ahead of BAR (3) and McLaren (1).

It was Ferrari's first one-two since the 2002 Japanese GP (Wikipedia, grandprix.com). After the close 2003 season, that sent a clear message. Over the winter, their rivals had hoped for a tighter fight. In Melbourne, though, nobody got anywhere near the red cars. Renault and Alonso also emerged as the only team that could more or less keep up. You can find all the results and data on our 2004 Australian GP race page.