2004 French GP: Schumacher's four-stop coup beats Alonso

At the 2004 French GP at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours, the win was decided on the pit wall. Michael Schumacher won for Ferrari ahead of polesitter Fernando Alonso in the Renault and teammate Rubens Barrichello. On track, Schumacher couldn't find a way past Alonso. So Ferrari switched to four pit stops mid-race, and Renault had no answer.

Alonso started from pole and also got away better than Schumacher. According to formula1.com, he had a quarter of a second in hand in qualifying. Behind them, Jarno Trulli took advantage of a poor start by David Coulthard. He passed the McLaren and Jenson Button in the BAR to run third. Kimi Räikkönen gained two places early on from ninth on the grid. At Toyota, meanwhile, Olivier Panis suffered a sticking clutch, the anti-stall kicked in and Panis dropped to the back of the field.

Schumacher sat glued to the Renault's gearbox but found no way past. According to formula1.com, Renault's Michelin tyres were quicker at the start of a stint, while Ferrari's Bridgestones degraded less. Schumacher made his first stop on lap 11, Alonso three laps later. After that, the Spaniard was again around three seconds ahead.

Around lap 25, Schumacher was once again right behind Alonso. Ferrari's chief strategist Luca Baldisserri had already run through this scenario before the race weekend. Technical director Ross Brawn now committed the team to a fourth stop. The risk was manageable, as the gap behind the two leaders was big enough not to put second place in jeopardy (formula1.com). Schumacher himself explained that the decision to go for four stops was made “after the second stop” (Atlas F1).

On lap 29, Ferrari brought Schumacher in and added only a little fuel. Renault responded by bringing Alonso's second stop forward to lap 32, earlier than planned. That stop handed the lead to Schumacher from lap 33. Running light on fuel, the Ferrari driver reeled off one quick lap after another. On lap 32 he set the fastest lap of the race with a 1:15.377.

On lap 42, Schumacher pitted for the third time and only briefly handed the lead to Alonso. It was only Alonso's third and final stop on lap 46 that revealed the full extent: from lap 47 Schumacher was back in front, with such a big lead that the fourth stop in the closing stages was no longer a problem. The sources give different laps for it. Schumacher eventually crossed the line 8.329 seconds ahead of Alonso. The Spaniard admitted Renault had lost because they were “not quick enough” (formula1.com).

The most exciting duel came in the final corners. Barrichello had suffered a hydraulic problem in the first qualifying session and therefore started only tenth. From there he worked his way forward. On lap 52 he passed Button at the hairpin, who according to Atlas F1 had trouble with the anti-stall system at his last stop and almost stalled his engine.

Trulli defended third place into the final lap. But two corners from the finish, at the Lycée chicane, Barrichello squeezed past the Renault. At the flag the pair were separated by 0.46 seconds, with Button just 0.4 seconds further back. Having gained seven places, Barrichello was the biggest climber of the day.

Only two drivers failed to finish:

• Takuma Sato (BAR) retired after 15 laps with an engine failure. According to Atlas F1, it was his sixth retirement in the tenth race. Having started seventh, he was the big loser of the day.
• Zsolt Baumgartner spun off in his Minardi after 31 laps.

Others had problems too. After his poor start, Coulthard lost further time in the pits because of a refuelling hose problem and dropped to eighth. In the end he fought his way back to sixth, ahead of Räikkönen. Juan Pablo Montoya raced with neck pain after a crash on Friday. On lap 18 he spun over the kerbs and fell from sixth to ninth. He finished eighth. At Williams, Marc Gené stood in for the injured Ralf Schumacher. Gené finished tenth. The Jaguar drivers Mark Webber and Christian Klien were ninth and eleventh, ahead of the Sauber drivers Giancarlo Fisichella and Felipe Massa.

In France, Schumacher took his ninth win of the season in the tenth race and his 79th Grand Prix victory overall. It was his seventh win at the French GP. According to crash.net, that equalled his own record from Montreal. In the 2004 standings he led on 90 points, 22 clear of Barrichello (68). Button (48), Trulli (46) and Alonso (33) were already well behind. In the constructors' standings, Ferrari had twice as many points as Renault, 158 to 79.

For Renault, their home race was a bitter lesson: having the faster car in the first stint was not enough against Ferrari's flexibility in the pits. The four-stop win at Magny-Cours is a textbook example of how, in the refuelling era, a race could be won without a single overtaking move at the front.