2004 Italian GP: Barrichello wins, Schumacher charges to P2

Rubens Barrichello won the 2004 Italian Grand Prix from pole position. His Ferrari team-mate Michael Schumacher finished second, with Jenson Button third in the BAR-Honda. Tyre choice on a drying track decided the race at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza: Barrichello lost the lead early on but won it back with an extra pit stop. Schumacher spun on the opening lap and dropped to 15th, then fought his way back up to 2nd. Barrichello crossed the line 1.3 seconds ahead. It was Ferrari's 700th Grand Prix as a works team.

It had rained in the morning, and parts of the track were still wet at the start. Barrichello was the only front-runner to start on wet tyres, while Schumacher had gone for dry tyres. The Brazilian got away cleanly from grid position 1 and, according to Atlas F1, was already 6.9 seconds clear after the first lap. In the opening phase, Fernando Alonso in the Renault got past both Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya, who had started from grid position 2 in the Williams.

The first lap turned into a nightmare for Schumacher. He said he couldn't brake in time at the first chicane and cut across it. Because that had gained him places, he had to give them back. At the second chicane he then slid on all four wheels alongside Button, the two made contact and Schumacher spun. By the end of the first lap he was down in 15th, around 30 seconds behind the leaders.

Olivier Panis was also caught out on the first lap. His Toyota ran into the back of Antônio Pizzonia at the second chicane and ended up in the gravel with a broken front wing. The official reason was given as “Collision”, and Panis did not get beyond the first lap.

As the track dried, Barrichello's lead quickly melted away. Alonso caught him on lap 5 and took the lead, and Barrichello then pitted to switch to dry tyres. According to Atlas F1, the Renault driver was 5.9 seconds ahead of Button after six laps. Behind them came Montoya, Kimi Räikkönen, Takuma Sato and Christian Klien. Barrichello was down in ninth and Schumacher in eleventh.

Alonso made his first stop at the end of lap 10. Button led from lap 11 and stayed ahead of the Spaniard after his own stop as well. Further back, the two Ferraris were moving forward at an impressive pace. Schumacher passed Giancarlo Fisichella, among others, and then even got past Barrichello. After his first stop he temporarily dropped back to 11th place.

The leaders were spread out for much of the middle of the race, until the second round of pit stops shuffled the order once more.

The second round of pit stops proved decisive. Button lost time and rejoined behind Barrichello. During the stops Schumacher briefly led from lap 35, and Barrichello was back in front from lap 37. After his early tyre change, Ferrari had put the Brazilian on an extra stop, and this strategy let him push flat out on a light fuel load. According to Atlas F1, he was 22.3 seconds ahead of Button when he made his final stop at the end of lap 42. He rejoined ahead of the BAR driver, and Schumacher passed Button for 2nd place.

After that, the two Ferraris eased off and brought the one-two safely home. On lap 41 Barrichello had set the fastest lap of the race with a 1:21.046. Earlier, he had taken pole in qualifying with a 1:20.089. It was his first win of the 2004 season.

Another figure also went down in history: Pizzonia reached 369.9 km/h in the Williams. That was the highest speed recorded in Formula 1 up to that point, even though he had gone through the gravel on lap 2.

• Olivier Panis (Toyota): He retired on the first lap after the collision with Pizzonia.
• Kimi Räikkönen (McLaren): He retired after 13 laps with an engine failure. He had already lost water pressure after about two laps. McLaren said the exact cause was initially still unclear.
• Gianmaria Bruni (Minardi): After 29 laps his car caught fire during a pit stop. Fuel had spilled from the refuelling hose onto the hot bodywork. The fire was quickly put out and Bruni was unhurt, although he inhaled some extinguishing agent. Minardi withdrew the car.
• Giorgio Pantano (Jordan): He crashed heavily at the Parabolica after 33 laps, shortly after his second stop. He suspected he had hit water or something else on the track. It was his last Grand Prix.
• Fernando Alonso (Renault): He was running 3rd after 40 laps when he took too much kerb at the second chicane, lost the rear and spun. His car got stuck in the gravel. In the classification he ended up twelve places behind his grid position, a drop matched only by Räikkönen.

Winners: BAR scored eleven points, with Button in 3rd and Sato in 4th. Fisichella made up the most places in the Sauber: he went from grid position 15 to 8th, gaining seven places and a point. Nick Heidfeld climbed from grid position 20 to 14th in the Jordan, and David Coulthard went from grid position 10 to 6th in the McLaren.

Losers: Montoya started from the front row but only finished fifth. Renault came away empty-handed: Alonso spun out, and Jarno Trulli started from grid position 9 but only finished 10th. Räikkönen also went home without points after his engine failure. Pizzonia scored two points for Williams in seventh, while Mark Webber in the Jaguar narrowly missed out on the points in ninth.

Both titles had already been decided. Schumacher had been world champion since the race in Belgium, and Ferrari had clinched the constructors' title in Hungary. In the 2004 standings, Schumacher led after the race with 136 points, ahead of Barrichello on 98 and Button on 71. Trulli on 46 and Alonso on 45 points were fighting for 4th place.

The battle for 2nd place among the teams was more exciting. Ferrari were well clear on 234 points. Behind them, BAR's eleven points from Monza took them to 94, moving them past Renault (91). Williams followed on 60 and McLaren on 52 points. BAR and Renault still had to settle this duel over the last three races.