2004 Brazilian GP: Montoya wins on his Williams farewell

In the final race of the 2004 season, Juan Pablo Montoya took victory for Williams at the Brazilian GP. He finished just 1.022 seconds ahead of Kimi Räikkönen in the McLaren. Pole-sitter Rubens Barrichello came home third in the Ferrari. Montoya laid the foundations in a wheel-to-wheel duel with Räikkönen straight after the switch from intermediates to dry tyres. After that, he only gave up the lead briefly during the pit stops.

It was Montoya's first win of the season and also his farewell to the team: in 2005 he was set to drive for McLaren alongside none other than Räikkönen.

World champion Michael Schumacher was already on the back foot before the race. Shortly before the end of the final free practice session, he spun at the Ferradura corner and went backwards into the tyre barrier. The car then briefly caught fire. A failure of the right front suspension was suspected, although driver error could not be ruled out. Schumacher did qualifying in the spare car with a new engine. Under the rules at the time, the engine change cost him ten grid positions. As a result, he started the race only from 18th.

At the front, Barrichello had taken pole position in front of his home crowd, ahead of Montoya and Räikkönen. Felipe Massa was a surprise fourth on the grid in the Sauber.

It rained shortly before the start. The track at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace was damp but not properly wet, so most drivers started the race on intermediates. Renault, by contrast, gambled on dry tyres with Fernando Alonso and Jacques Villeneuve, as did David Coulthard in his final race for McLaren.

Barrichello got away well, but Räikkönen passed him within a few corners and took the lead. Montoya made a poor start and dropped to fourth. Schumacher spun early in the race on the wet surface and from then on had no chance of moving up the order.

As the track dried, Barrichello took the lead back from lap 4. Shortly afterwards, home hero Massa was even in front, from lap 6. Meanwhile, the drivers on intermediates came in one after another to switch to dry tyres, starting with Ralf Schumacher on lap 4. This was Renault's moment: Alonso had saved himself the stop and took the lead from lap 8.

Behind him, the battle for victory was decided. Montoya and Räikkönen came out of the pit lane side by side. Räikkönen had the inside line at the exit, so Montoya took a wider line downhill, carried more speed and went past under braking at the end of the back straight. When Alonso pitted to refuel at the end of lap 18, he dropped to sixth. Montoya was now in the lead.

From then on, it was a two-way fight between the future team-mates. The gap kept fluctuating, but Räikkönen never got close enough to attack. During the second round of stops, the lead passed briefly to the Finn for lap 29 only, after which Montoya was back in front.

The final stops decided the race. Montoya and the other front-runners came in for their last stops from lap 47 onwards. On lap 49, Montoya set the fastest lap of the race with a 1:11.473. McLaren kept Räikkönen out longer, and he led from lap 51. But the five laps on low fuel were not enough. After his stop on lap 55, Räikkönen rejoined around a second behind Montoya. From lap 56 the Colombian was back in front, and nothing changed before the chequered flag.

According to grandprix.com, BMW motorsport director Mario Theissen spoke of a huge relief for the team after a long, hard season. By his account, it was BMW's tenth win as Williams' engine partner.

Only three drivers failed to finish:

• Jenson Button (BAR): Starting fifth on the grid, he was fighting for third place, but his Honda V10 failed after lap 3. Having lost 15 places, he was the big loser of the day.
• Nick Heidfeld (Jordan): He retired after lap 15 with clutch failure.
• Mark Webber (Jaguar): Team-mate Christian Klien misjudged it and hit Webber. Webber's car was too badly damaged to continue, and he retired after lap 23. Klien had repairs carried out in the pits and finished 14th, two laps down.

Michael Schumacher made up the most places: from 18th on the grid he drove to seventh, a gain of eleven positions. Even so, he could not race at the front. He finished just behind Ralf Schumacher and Takuma Sato.

Alonso went from eighth on the grid to fourth, four positions better. Renault's tyre gamble earned him eleven laps in the lead and good points, but no win. During the final stops he kept Ralf Schumacher behind him. Ralf then passed Sato three laps from the end to finish fifth.

For Barrichello, third place was the only home podium of his career. It was also his first finish at Interlagos since 1994. After his laps in the lead, Massa slipped from fourth on the grid to eighth, but at least scored a point. Giancarlo Fisichella missed out on points in ninth. Villeneuve and Coulthard followed a lap down.

The titles had long since been decided. In the 2004 standings, Michael Schumacher finished the season on 148 points, ahead of Barrichello (114) and Button (85). The fight for fourth was close: Alonso had 59 points, exactly one more than Montoya (58). Räikkönen ended the season seventh with 45 points. Ralf Schumacher's fifth place lifted him to ninth in the championship, level on points with Coulthard (24 each).

In the constructors' standings, Ferrari were well clear on 262 points. Behind them, BAR (119) secured second place ahead of Renault (105), Williams (88) and McLaren (69).

The race was a season finale full of farewells: Montoya drove his last race for Williams, Coulthard his last for McLaren. It was the first time the Brazilian GP had closed the season. For Montoya, it was the fourth Grand Prix win of his career and Williams' only win of 2004. Williams would not win again until the 2012 Spanish GP.