Japanese GP 2004: Schumacher defies typhoon as brother Ralf takes second

Michael Schumacher won the 2004 Japanese Grand Prix from pole position. He led all 53 laps and crossed the line around 14 seconds clear of his brother Ralf Schumacher in the Williams. Jenson Button finished third in the BAR. It was the 15th win of the season for Ferrari, and Schumacher's own 13th of the year. The race was effectively decided after the first round of pit stops.

The weekend at Suzuka Circuit was dominated by Typhoon Ma-on. With the storm bearing down on Japan, the whole of Saturday was cancelled. Both qualifying sessions were therefore held on Sunday morning, on a damp but drying track. The teams barely had a chance to set their cars up for dry conditions.

Schumacher went out late and took pole. Alongside him was brother Ralf. The surprise was Mark Webber, who put the Jaguar third on the grid. Behind him came Takuma Sato, Button and Jarno Trulli. Several favourites slipped up, however: Fernando Alonso started only eleventh, Kimi Räikkönen twelfth, Juan Pablo Montoya 13th and Rubens Barrichello a lowly 15th. After an engine change and a spin, Zsolt Baumgartner had to start from the pit lane without a qualifying time.

By the afternoon the sun was shining at Suzuka, and the race got under way in the dry. The Schumacher brothers held their positions at the start. Webber, by contrast, made a poor getaway and lost three places. Michael quickly pulled away and, according to Crash.net, was already seven seconds clear of third-placed Button after four laps.

Ralf pitted four laps earlier than his brother. Michael didn't refuel until lap 13 and rejoined still in the lead. From then on the fight for victory was over: at half distance, according to Crash.net, the Ferrari driver was 36 seconds ahead. Michael kept the lead through his second stop as well.

Behind them, the BAR pair battled for the podium. Sato was running lighter on fuel and was ahead of Button for a while. In the end, though, Button prevailed and claimed his tenth podium of the season. In the midfield, Trulli, Montoya, Barrichello and Giancarlo Fisichella in the Sauber fought hard. Fisichella made a mistake on lap 16 and let several rivals through. On lap 21 Montoya dived down the inside of Trulli, but the Italian took the place back around the outside. One lap later the Colombian locked up at the chicane, and Barrichello slipped through.

• Mark Webber (Jaguar), retired after 20 laps, overheating: The cockpit got hotter and hotter. According to GrandPrix.com, Webber pitted on lap 18 with an overheating seat, but the team apparently couldn't find the cause. As the heat became dangerous, he parked the car. According to Wikipedia, he suffered minor burns to his thigh. Crash.net suspected that the Jaguar was bottoming out because of the limited setup time in the dry, letting heat into the cockpit through the seat.
• Rubens Barrichello (Ferrari) and David Coulthard (McLaren), both after 38 laps, collision: Fighting for fifth place, Barrichello tried to go down the inside of Coulthard at the chicane. The two made contact, and both cars broke their front suspension. Barrichello said Coulthard hadn't seen him and shut the door. Coulthard didn't want to blame anyone. It was a bitter blow for the Scot: he was running in the points and had been on a two-stop strategy until then. Earlier, on lap 30, Barrichello had set the fastest lap of the race (1:32.730).
• Zsolt Baumgartner (Minardi), retired after 41 laps, spin: The Hungarian spun off at the back of the field.

No penalties from Race Control are on record for this race.

Winners:

• Felipe Massa (Sauber): After a slip in qualifying he started only 19th. He gained ten places, more than anyone else, and passed Jacques Villeneuve late on. Ninth place, however, didn't earn him a point.
• Alonso, Räikkönen and Montoya: After their botched qualifying, all three gained six places and finished fifth, sixth and seventh. Alonso in the Renault inherited fifth thanks to the collision between Barrichello and Coulthard.
• Takuma Sato: He finished fourth in front of his home crowd, his best result at Suzuka. He did so while battling shoulder pain from an old injury and had to go without water for a long time after his drinks bottle failed.

Losers:

• Mark Webber: He started third but lost 17 places with his retirement.
• David Coulthard: The McLaren driver dropped from eighth on the grid to 18th in the classification, throwing away what looked like certain points.
• Jarno Trulli: In his first race for Toyota, he started sixth on a light fuel load and finished eleventh, a lap down. His teammate Olivier Panis contested his final Formula 1 race and finished 14th.

In the 2004 standings the title had long since been decided: Michael Schumacher had 146 points, Barrichello 108. With only ten points left to win in the final race, Barrichello was also confirmed as runner-up. Button followed in third with 85 points. Montoya moved past Trulli (46) into fifth with 48 points.

More exciting was the fight for second place in the constructors' championship. BAR celebrated its 100th Grand Prix at Suzuka and, with third and fourth place, extended its lead over Renault to 16 points (116 to 100). That left the team in a strong position for the finale at the Brazilian GP. Ferrari led well clear of everyone with 254 points.

Historically, the race was a milestone: with its 15th win of the season, Ferrari equalled the records set by McLaren in 1988 and by Ferrari itself in 2002. For Michael Schumacher it was the 83rd Grand Prix win of his career and his sixth in Japan. The Schumacher brothers never again finished first and second, so Suzuka 2004 remained their last shared one-two. You can find all the results of the season on the race page and in the 2004 results.