2004 Hungarian GP: Schumacher's record win crowns Ferrari world champions

The 2004 Hungarian GP was a show of sheer dominance. Michael Schumacher started from pole position, led all 70 laps and set the fastest lap too. Team-mate Rubens Barrichello crossed the line behind him, which secured the constructors' championship for Ferrari with races to spare. Fernando Alonso finished third for Renault. He laid the foundations for that with a strong start.

At the Hungaroring, the first corner often decides the whole race, and so it proved again. Schumacher held the lead comfortably, with Barrichello staying second. Behind them, things got lively: Alonso made a superb getaway from grid position five. According to Crash.net, he had to brake because Takuma Sato tried to block his path. That may have cost the Spaniard the chance to pass Barrichello at the first corner.

For BAR, the start was a setback. Sato had lined up on the second row but lost places. Team-mate Jenson Button also lost ground from grid position four and found himself behind Juan Pablo Montoya in the Williams. The order barely changed after that.

After that, very little happened on track. The field quickly spread out and there was almost no overtaking. Crash.net called the race monotonous. Commentator James Allen joked, more or less, that the highlight had been Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn eating a banana.

Schumacher controlled the race from the front. He set his fastest lap of 1:19.071 on lap 29. At the finish, Barrichello was 4.696 seconds behind. According to Crash.net, however, Schumacher eased off towards the end, so his real advantage was bigger. Alonso, in third, was 44.599 seconds adrift. He never got close to the Ferraris, but had nothing to fear from behind either. Ferrari team principal Jean Todt said after the race that the unknowns had been the start and reliability, and both had held up. He also praised how well the Bridgestone tyres lasted over the race distance.

Button put Montoya under pressure in the fight for fourth place but, according to Wikipedia, never got closer than three seconds. Montoya finished fourth, Button fifth. Off track, much of Button's weekend was about his planned move to Williams, which the Contract Recognition Board still had to rule on. At Williams, Antônio Pizzonia continued to stand in for the injured Ralf Schumacher and scored two points in seventh. The final point went to Giancarlo Fisichella in eighth for Sauber. Fisichella reported that his tyres grained for a few laps after every pit stop.

Five drivers failed to reach the finish:

• Kimi Räikkönen, McLaren: He retired after 13 laps with an electrical problem. Starting from grid position ten, he had little chance of making an impact anyway.
• Felipe Massa, Sauber: He pulled over after 21 laps with brake problems.
• Ricardo Zonta, Toyota: He retired after 31 laps with an electronics failure.
• Jarno Trulli, Renault: His engine gave up after 41 laps. Trulli had started from grid position nine.
• Giorgio Pantano, Jordan: His race ended after 48 laps with a gearbox failure.

All reasons for retirement are taken from the official classification. No penalties or Safety Car periods are recorded for this race.

Winners:

• Fernando Alonso: He gained two places and was the only driver outside Ferrari on the podium. According to Crash.net, he also praised his Renault crew, who made no mistakes during the pit stops.
• Juan Pablo Montoya: He climbed from grid position seven to fourth.
• Gianmaria Bruni, Minardi: On paper he gained the most places, five, and finished fourteenth. That was mainly down to the retirements ahead of him.
• Nick Heidfeld, Jordan: He went from 16th on the grid to twelfth.
• David Coulthard, McLaren: He made up three places and finished ninth, but narrowly missed out on the points.

Losers:

• Kimi Räikkönen: He lost ten places. For McLaren it was another setback in a difficult season.
• Jarno Trulli: His engine failure meant he did not reach the finish.
• Takuma Sato: He started third and finished sixth, a lap down. After the race, BAR team principal David Richards said his team had closed up on Renault, but the result was disappointing.

With 202 points, Ferrari had an unassailable lead over Renault (91) and BAR (83). According to Crash.net and Grandprix.com, it was their sixth consecutive constructors' title and, according to Crash.net, their fourteenth overall.

In the drivers' championship, Schumacher led with 120 points from Barrichello on 82. Button stayed third with 65 points. Behind him, Trulli (46) and Alonso (45) were separated by just one point. Montoya followed with 38 points. According to Crash.net, Schumacher could wrap up his seventh world title as early as the next race, the Belgian GP. You can find all the tables in the 2004 standings.

Budapest was a race for the history books. Schumacher claimed his twelfth win in the thirteenth race of the season. No driver had ever won so many races in a single year. In doing so, he beat his own record of eleven wins from 2002. According to Grandprix.com, it was also the 82nd Grand Prix win of his career.

Schumacher was on pole, led every lap and set the fastest lap. He could hardly have been more dominant that afternoon. All his rivals could take away was that the Ferrari F2004 and the Bridgestone tyres were the benchmark this season. Behind Ferrari, one battle stood out above all: Renault and BAR were fighting for second place in the constructors' championship.