The 2004 United States Grand Prix (officially the 2004 Formula 1 United States Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on June 20, 2004, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana. It was Race 9 of 18 in the 2004 FIA Formula One World Championship.
Rubens Barrichello started from pole position in his Ferrari ahead of teammate Michael Schumacher. However, following a start-line incident between five cars, four of whom retired as a result, Schumacher overtook Barrichello on the safety car restart on lap six, and despite a threat from Barrichello after the final pit stops, Schumacher held on to take his eighth win of the season. Takuma Sato became only the second Japanese driver to achieve a podium finish after Aguri Suzuki. This was Takumo Sato's only podium finish in F1.
The race saw two serious accidents caused by Michelin tire failures in what would be a precedent for the 2005 United States Grand Prix, at which all Michelin-shod cars withdrew over safety concerns. First, Fernando Alonso's Renault crashed into the barriers alongside the end of the pit straight on lap nine. Later, Ralf Schumacher's Williams suffered the same fate, but in the most dangerous part of the track, causing him to hit the wall at a ninety-degree angle rearwards. The impact left Schumacher with spinal fractures and concussion, which prevented him from racing until the 2004 Chinese Grand Prix, three months later.
This was the last US Grand Prix race that featured a US-owned Formula One team until 2016 when Haas debuted as newly-formed US Formula One team.
Report
Background
Heading into round nine, the season had so far belonged to Michael Schumacher, driving for Ferrari, winning all but one race, in Monaco, owing to a crash with Juan Pablo Montoya, and so had 70 points out of a possible 80. However, Rubens Barrichello, Schumacher's teammate at Ferrari, was only 16 points behind him, having taken six podiums and two other points finishes. In the Constructors' Championship, however, Ferrari were dominating, with 124 points: more than double that of second-placed Renault, the only other team to win a Grand Prix that year so far, with Jarno Trulli triumphing in Monaco. Third-placed BAR had a quick car, but suffered reliability problems. Lead driver Jenson Button, like his future teammate Barrichello, picking up six podiums and two other points finishes. However, of the eight races so far, Takuma Sato, in the other BAR, had suffered five engine failures, three of which had occurred in the preceding three Grands Prix in Monaco, Europe, and Canada.
Williams and Toyota had been disqualified from the last event in Canada for illegal brake ducts, even though, in Williams's case, this proved to be a manufacturing error and had not given them any aerodynamic or cooling gain.
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
|}
Practice
thumb|right|[[Fernando Alonso during free practice.]]
Four practice sessions were held before qualifying - two 60-minute sessions on Friday and two 45-minute sessions on Saturday. All of the teams, with the exception of Ferrari, Williams, McLaren, and Renault, were permitted to run three drivers on Friday. 1:10.365, and 1:10.911 respectively. Jenson Button, driving for BAR, however, prevented Barrichello from a clean sweep in the second Saturday session: his time of 1:10.056 was 0.143 quicker than second-placed Michael Schumacher. Third was Takuma Sato, Button's teammate, whilst Barrichello languished in fourth. However, despite the pace of the Ferraris, their Bridgestone tires had grained in the long runs, meaning that balls of rubber would form on the surface of the tire, reducing mechanical grip.
thumb|right|[[Ralf Schumacher is attended to by Gary Hartstein after impacting the wall out the outside of turn thirteen on lap ten.]]
As the safety car came in, Michael Schumacher overtook Barrichello for the lead of the race. On lap nine, Fernando Alonso, in a Michelin-shod Renault, crashed out from third place at the end of the main straight after his right rear tire deflated under braking. He lost control of the car and it crashed nose-first into the barriers along the track, destroying the front end of the Renault and some polystyrene boards at turn one. Double yellow flags were deployed, meaning the drivers were not allowed to overtake in that zone. At the end of lap ten, the Williams of Ralf Schumacher, also on Michelin tires, suffered a tire failure in turn thirteen, the only banked corner at the time in Formula One, backing the car into the wall at a ninety-degree angle. The car skidded several hundred metres down the race track before coming to rest. Schumacher sat motionless in the car for two minutes, unable to talk to his team over the radio, as the radio had been smashed in the incident. The safety car was deployed, and most of the drivers opted to make an early pit stop. Michael Schumacher pitted, as did his teammate Barrichello, but Barrichello had to queue behind Schumacher, and also struggled to get going from the stop, costing him track position to Kimi Räikkönen, who also pitted. As he left the pit lane, David Coulthard ran over a piece of debris from Alonso's Renault. Michael Schumacher now led the race from Takuma Sato, Jenson Button, and Juan Pablo Montoya, none of whom had made a pit stop. Kimi Räikkönen was now fifth, ahead of Barrichello in sixth, Trulli in seventh place, and Olivier Panis in the last points position in eighth.
thumb|left|[[Jenson Button's BAR retired due to a gearbox problem.]]
The safety car pulled in at the end of lap nineteen, and as the BARs had not stopped, they were pressuring Michael Schumacher's much heavier Ferrari: the top three were within two seconds of each other for a long period of time. Takuma Sato was very quick through the first and second sectors of the lap, but Michael Schumacher's Ferrari had good traction out of turn eleven, the only overtaking opportunity, and so Sato was unable to pass. On lap 24, Button was the first BAR to make a pit stop. Button's arrival in his pit box was messy, causing him to lose a couple of seconds whilst his mechanics readjusted their positions. Sato pitted one lap later, and had a clean stop, rejoining in eleventh place, just in front of Button in twelfth. Sato had good traction, however, out of turn seven on his out lap, and overtook Mark Webber's Jaguar to move up to tenth. On the same lap, he overtook David Coulthard through turn thirteen, finishing off the move into turn one on lap twenty seven. Mark Webber ran wide at turn one, gifting a place to Button. However, BAR's reliability problems continued: Button retired at the end of lap twenty seven with a gearbox issue. On lap 29, Sato repeated his move on Webber on Giancarlo Fisichella, and moved into a points position. A few corners later, he passed Nick Heidfeld and moved into seventh.
thumb|right|[[David Coulthard battles Giancarlo Fisichella for eighth place.]]
Räikkönen made his second stop of the race at the end of lap 29, rejoining in eleventh place, behind Webber. On lap 31, he moved past Webber, and into tenth place, behind David Coulthard. One lap later, the McLarens swapped positions, as Räikkönen moved into ninth. However, Räikkönen had to make yet another pit stop at the end of lap thirty four due to an electronics problem on his car. The stop lasted fifteen seconds and he rejoined last. Montoya made his first pit stop at the end of lap 35, rejoining in sixth.
Michael Schumacher now led the race by thirteen seconds from Rubens Barrichello, and continued to pull away. Jarno Trulli, now in third place, drove sharply over the kerb at turn eight and lost a piece of his car on lap 38. Nick Heidfeld pitted at the end of lap 38 and rejoined the race in eleventh. Takuma Sato, meanwhile, had caught Olivier Panis's Toyota, and overtook him on lap 40 for fourth place. Schumacher pitted at the end of lap 42 with a fifteen-second gap to his teammate, and Barrichello assumed the lead. Schumacher's 10.3-second stop fuelled him to get to the end of the race. Barrichello then pushed hard, attempting to leapfrog Schumacher. Heidfeld retired on lap 45, and Sato pitted on the same lap for his second and final pit stop. Sato rejoined in sixth place, behind Montoya. Jarno Trulli pitted on lap 46 and rejoined in fifth place, behind Olivier Panis, although that quickly changed when Panis pitted at the end of lap 47. Panis rejoined behind Sato, and Coulthard pitted on the same lap for McLaren, rejoining in ninth.
Fisichella, on Bridgestone tires, then suffered a left rear puncture on lap 49. He took the opportunity to make his final fuel stop, rejoining near the back of the field. Barrichello had been pushing hard, and so when he finally stopped for fuel on lap 51, the gap between the two Ferraris had been cut to approximately two seconds - Barrichello had cut the gap by approximately thirteen seconds. On lap 52, Barrichello went up the inside of Schumacher in turn four, but Schumacher cut across the front of his teammate. The two cars nearly collided, and Barrichello then, contrary to Todt's earlier statements, was told to remain behind Schumacher. Barrichello was disappointed to have conceded the lead on the safety car restart and criticised the Ferrari technicians for indecision regarding his first pit stop, which lost him position to Kimi Räikkönen.
|}
Notes
- – Jarno Trulli was left without a time in Q2 due to a gearbox failure.
Race
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 85%;"
|-
! Pos !! No !! Driver !! Constructor !! Tyre !! Laps !! Time/Retired !! Grid !! Points
|-
! 1
| 1
| Michael Schumacher
| Ferrari
|
| 73
| 1:40:29.914
| 2
| 10
|-
! 2
| 2
| Rubens Barrichello
| Ferrari
|
| 73
| +2.950
| 1
| 8
|-
! 3
| 10
| Takuma Sato
| BAR-Honda
|
| 73
| +22.036
| 3
| 6
|-
! 4
| 7
| Jarno Trulli
| Renault
|
| 73
| +34.544
| 20
| 5
|-
! 5
| 17
| Olivier Panis
| Toyota
|
| 73
| +37.534
| 8
| 4
|-
! 6
| 6
| Kimi Räikkönen
| McLaren-Mercedes
|
| 72
| +1 Lap
| 7
| 3
|-
! 7
| 5
| David Coulthard
| McLaren-Mercedes
|
| 72
| +1 Lap
| 12
| 2
|-
! 8
| 21
| Zsolt Baumgartner
| Minardi-Cosworth
|
| 70
| +3 Laps
| 19
| 1
|-
! 9
| 11
| Giancarlo Fisichella
| Sauber-Petronas
|
| 65
| Hydraulics
| 14
|
|-
!
| 14
| Mark Webber
| Jaguar-Cosworth
|
| 60
| Oil leak
| 10
|
|-
!
| 18
| Nick Heidfeld
| Jordan-Ford
|
| 43
| Engine
| 16
|
|-
!
| 9
| Jenson Button
| BAR-Honda
|
| 26
| Gearbox
| 4
|
|-
!
| 16
| Cristiano da Matta
| Toyota
|
| 17
| Gearbox
| 11
|
|-
!
| 4
| Ralf Schumacher
| Williams-BMW
|
| 9
| Puncture/Accident
| 6
|
|-
!
| 8
| Fernando Alonso
| Renault
|
| 8
| Puncture
| 9
|
|-
!
| 15
| Christian Klien
| Jaguar-Cosworth
|
| 0
| Collision
| 13
|
|-
!
| 12
| Felipe Massa
| Sauber-Petronas
|
| 0
| Collision
| 15
|
|-
!
| 19
| Giorgio Pantano
| Jordan-Ford
|
| 0
| Collision
| 17
|
|-
!
| 20
| Gianmaria Bruni
| Minardi-Cosworth
|
| 0
| Collision
| 18
|
|-
!
| 3
| Juan Pablo Montoya
| Williams-BMW
|
| 57
| Illegal car change
| PL
|
|-
!colspan="9"|
|}
Notes
- – Juan Pablo Montoya started the race from the pitlane.
- – Montoya was disqualified from the Grand Prix for changing cars after the formation lap had started.
Championship standings after the race
;Drivers' Championship standings
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 85%;"
|-
! Pos
! Driver
! Points
|-
| 1
| Michael Schumacher
| align="right"| 80
|-
| 2
| Rubens Barrichello
| align="right"| 62
|-
| 3
| Jenson Button
| align="right"| 44
|-
| 4
| Jarno Trulli
| align="right"| 41
|-
| 5
| Fernando Alonso
| align="right"| 25
|-
!colspan=4|Source:
|}
;Constructors' Championship standings
{|class="wikitable" style="font-size: 85%;"
|-
! Pos
! Constructor
! Points
|-
| 1
| Ferrari
| align="right"| 142
|-
| 2
| Renault
| align="right"| 66
|-
| 3
| BAR-Honda
| align="right"| 58
|-
| 4
| Williams-BMW
| align="right"| 36
|-
| 5
| McLaren-Mercedes
| align="right"| 17
|-
!colspan=4|Source: