The 2004 British Grand Prix (formally known as the 2004 Formula 1 Foster's British Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race that took place on 11 July 2004 at the Silverstone Circuit in Northamptonshire, England. It was the eleventh round of the 2004 FIA Formula One World Championship.
Kimi Räikkönen of McLaren scored his first pole position of the season, but finished second in the race behind championship leader Michael Schumacher of Ferrari, the German continuing his winning streak with five Grands Prix in a row, just like he did at the start of the year.
Background
The race was preceded by a demonstration of contemporary Formula One cars on Regent Street in London, including former British Formula One World Champion Nigel Mansell driving the Jordan EJ14. The event attracted an estimated 500,000 spectators.
After the demonstration, Minardi's Sporting Director John Walton died of a heart attack. Minardi decided to withdraw its cars from the third practice session on Saturday morning.
Practice
Four free practice sessions were held for the event. On Friday, the first session was topped by the Ferraris of Rubens Barrichello and Michael Schumacher. The second session saw McLaren's Kimi Räikkönen on top, just five thousands ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella in the Sauber.
On Saturday, Räikkönen topped the third session as well, ahead of Jenson Button in the BAR.
Friday drivers
The bottom 6 teams in the 2003 Constructors' Championship were entitled to run a third car in free practice on Friday. These drivers drove on Friday but did not compete in qualifying or the race.
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%"
|-
! Constructor !! Nat !! Driver
|-
| BAR-Honda
|
| Anthony Davidson
|-
| Sauber-Petronas
|
| -
|-
| Jaguar-Cosworth
|
| Björn Wirdheim
|-
| Toyota
|
| Ricardo Zonta
|-
| Jordan-Ford
|
| Timo Glock
|-
| Minardi-Cosworth
|
| Bas Leinders
|}
Qualifying
Qualifying on Saturday consisted of two sessions. In the first session, drivers went out one by one in the order in which they classified at the previous race. Each driver was allowed to set one lap time. The result determined the running order in the second session: the fastest driver in the first session was allowed to go last in the second session, which usually provided the benefit of a cleaner track. In the second session, drivers were again allowed to set one lap time, which determined the order on the grid for the race on Sunday, with the fastest driver scoring pole position.
On this particular weekend, the first qualifying session was unusual. Teams were expecting rain later that day, so they were deliberately going slow in the first session, aiming for an early slot in the second session. Michael Schumacher spun his car and Rubens Barrichello went wide at Vale corner. Other drivers simply and unsubtly lifted off in the final sector, cruising across the start-finish line at walking pace. Eventually, the rain never came.
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size: 85%;"
|-
! Pos
! No
! Driver
! Constructor
!Q1 Time
! Q2 Time
! Gap
! Grid
|-
! 1
| 6
| Kimi Räikkönen
| McLaren-Mercedes
|1:21.639
| 1:18.233
|align="center"| —
| 1
|-
! 2
| 2
| Rubens Barrichello
| Ferrari
|1:24.817
| 1:18.305
| +0.072
| 2
|-
! 3
| 9
| Jenson Button
| BAR-Honda
|1:18.872
| 1:18.580
| +0.347
| 3
|-
! 4
| 1
| Michael Schumacher
| Ferrari
|1:30.293
| 1:18.710
| +0.477
| 4
|-
! 5
| 7
| Jarno Trulli
| Renault
|1:21.496
| 1:18.715
| +0.482
| 5
|-
! 6
| 8
| Fernando Alonso
| Renault
|1:21.923
| 1:18.811
| +0.578
| 16
|-
! 7
| 5
| David Coulthard
| McLaren-Mercedes
|1:23.521
| 1:19.148
| +0.915
| 6
|-
! 8
| 3
| Juan Pablo Montoya
| Williams-BMW
|1:34.386
| 1:19.378
| +1.145
| 7
|-
! 9
| 10
| Takuma Sato
| BAR-Honda
|1:28.910
| 1:19.688
| +1.455
| 8
|-
! 10
| 14
| Mark Webber
| Jaguar-Cosworth
|1:35.853
| 1:20.004
| +1.771
| 9
|-
! 11
| 12
| Felipe Massa
| Sauber-Petronas
|1:19.317
| 1:20.202
| +1.969
| 10
|-
! 12
| 17
| Olivier Panis
| Toyota
|1:19.697
| 1:20.335
| +2.102
| 17
|-
! 13
| 4
| Marc Gené
| Williams-BMW
|1:34.981
| 1:20.335
| +2.102
| 11
|-
! 14
| 16
| Cristiano da Matta
| Toyota
|1:22.507
| 1:20.545
| +2.312
| 12
|-
! 15
| 15
| Christian Klien
| Jaguar-Cosworth
|1:38.648
| 1:21.559
| +3.326
| 13
|-
! 16
| 19
| Giorgio Pantano
| Jordan-Ford
|1:21.350
| 1:22.458
| +4.225
| 14
|-
! 17
| 18
| Nick Heidfeld
| Jordan-Ford
|No time
| 1:22.677
| +4.444
| 15
|-
! 18
| 20
| Gianmaria Bruni
| Minardi-Cosworth
|1:22.529
| 1:23.437
| +5.204
| 18
|-
! 19
| 21
| Zsolt Baumgartner
| Minardi-Cosworth
|1:23.116
| 1:24.117
| +5.884
| 19
|-
! 20
| 11
| Giancarlo Fisichella
| Sauber-Petronas
| No time
| No time
|
| 20
|-
! colspan="8" |
|}
;Notes
- – Fernando Alonso, Gianmaria Bruni, Zsolt Baumgartner and Giancarlo Fisichella received a 10-place grid penalty for engine changes.
- – Olivier Panis received a 5-place grid penalty for impeding Felipe Massa.
- – Giancarlo Fisichella did not set a time in either section to save fuel and tyres.
Race report
thumb|[[Jarno Trulli lost control at Bridge Corner and crashed heavily.]]
The race started off relatively calm with Kimi Räikkönen managing to hold on to the lead ahead of Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button. Räikkönen showed the best pace, while being able to hold out two more laps before pitting. But it was Michael Schumacher, starting in fourth, who set five consecutive fastest laps while the frontrunners stopped and he managed to open up a gap of more than 20 seconds to his rivals. When the German pitted and rejoined the race on lap 16, it turned out he had jumped ahead of all three drivers and merged into the lead of the race.
|}
Championship standings after the race
- Bold text and an asterisk indicates who still has a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion.
;Drivers' Championship standings
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 85%;"
|-
! Pos
! Driver
! Points
|-
| 1
| Michael Schumacher*
| align="right"| 100
|-
| 2
| Rubens Barrichello*
| align="right"| 74
|-
| 3
| Jenson Button*
| align="right"| 53
|-
| 4
| Jarno Trulli*
| align="right"| 46
|-
| 5
| Fernando Alonso*
| align="right"| 33
|-
!colspan=4|Source:
|}
;Constructors' Championship standings
{|class="wikitable" style="font-size: 85%;"
|-
! Pos
! Constructor
! Points
|-
| 1
| Ferrari*
| align="right"| 174
|-
| 2
| Renault*
| align="right"| 79
|-
| 3
| BAR-Honda*
| align="right"| 67
|-
| 4
| Williams-BMW
| align="right"| 41
|-
| 5
| McLaren-Mercedes
| align="right"| 32
|-
!colspan=4|Source: