On this day in 2004 Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello led a dominant Ferrari 1-2 in the first ever Bahrain GP after securing a front row lockout for the Maranello team.
Bahrain was the third race of the championships that for the first time in history had 18 races, but new track brought no change at the top.
Michael Schumacher convincingly won his third pole position in three race in 2004 (1:30.139), which was 58th in his career), 0.391 seconds ahead of his team mate Barrichello, 0.442 s in front of Montoya in Williams and 0.494 s in front of his brother Ralf in second Williams.
Fifth and sixth at the start were BAR Honda drivers Sato and Button with about seven tenths of a second behind dominant Schumacher.
Schumacher and Barrichello kept their lead and sealed a convincing 1-2 victory for Ferrari, 26 seconds ahead of Button while Schumacher also set the fastest lap of the race (1:30.252), which was only one tenth of a second slower than his pole position lap.
Button finished third for BAR Honda, Trulli fourth for Renault, and fifth was Sato in second BAR Honda 006. Alonso finished sixth from 16th place ahead of Ralf Schumacher in Williams and Webber in Jaguar who scored the last point.
Montoya had a disappointing race that he finished in 13th place with a lap behind, and McLaren was the only team to retire its both cars due to engine problems. Apart from Raikkonen and Coulthard, only Baumgartner retired for Minardi.
STARTING GRID
1 | 1 | M.Schumacher | Ferrari | 1:30.139 | – |
2 | 2 | R.Barrichello | Ferrari | 1:30.530 | 0.391 |
3 | 3 | J.P.Montoya | Williams/BMW | 1:30.581 | 0.442 |
4 | 4 | Ralf Schumacher | Williams/BMW | 1:30.633 | 0.494 |
5 | 10 | Takuma Sato | BAR/Honda | 1:30.827 | 0.688 |
6 | 9 | Jenson Button | BAR/Honda | 1:30.856 | 0.717 |
7 | 7 | Jarno Trulli | Renault | 1:30.971 | 0.832 |
8 | 17 | Olivier Panis | Toyota | 1:31.686 | 1.547 |
9 | 16 | C.da Matta | Toyota | 1:31.717 | 1.578 |
10 | 5 | David Coulthard | McLaren/Mercedes | 1:31.719 | 1.580 |
11 | 11 | G.Fisichella | Sauber/Petronas | 1:31.731 | 1.592 |
12 | 15 | Christian Klien | Jaguar/Cosworth | 1:32.332 | 2.193 |
13 | 12 | Felipe Massa | Sauber/Petronas | 1:32.536 | 2.397 |
14 | 14 | Mark Webber | Jaguar/Cosworth | 1:32.625 | 2.486 |
15 | 19 | Giorgio Pantano | Jordan/Ford | 1:34.105 | 3.966 |
16 | 8 | Fernando Alonso | Renault | 1:34.130 | 3.991 |
17 | 20 | Gianmaria Bruni | Minardi/Cosworth | 1:34.584 | 4.445 |
Pitlane start | |||||
18 | 18 | Nick Heidfeld | Jordan/Ford | 1:33.506 | 3.367 |
19 | 6 | Kimi Räikkönen | McLaren/Mercedes | – | – |
20 | 21 | Z.Baumgartner | Minardi/Cosworth | 1:35.787 | 5.648 |
RACE RESULTS
1 | 1 | M.Schumacher | Ferrari | 57 | 1:28:34.875 | |
2 | 2 | R.Barrichello | Ferrari | 57 | 1:28:36.242 | 1.367 |
3 | 9 | Jenson Button | BAR/Honda | 57 | 1:29:01.562 | 26.687 |
4 | 7 | Jarno Trulli | Renault | 57 | 1:29:07.089 | 32.214 |
5 | 10 | Takuma Sato | BAR/Honda | 57 | 1:29:27.335 | 52.460 |
6 | 8 | Fernando Alonso | Renault | 57 | 1:29:28.031 | 53.156 |
7 | 4 | Ralf Schumacher | Williams/BMW | 57 | 1:29:33.030 | 58.155 |
8 | 14 | Mark Webber | Jaguar/Cosworth | 56 | 1:28:39.255 | 1 lap |
9 | 17 | Olivier Panis | Toyota | 56 | 1:28:41.250 | 1 lap |
10 | 16 | C.da Matta | Toyota | 56 | 1:28:53.515 | 1 lap |
11 | 11 | G.Fisichella | Sauber/Petronas | 56 | 1:28:54.515 | 1 lap |
12 | 12 | Felipe Massa | Sauber/Petronas | 56 | 1:28:59.164 | 1 lap |
13 | 3 | J.P.Montoya | Williams/BMW | 56 | 1:29:09.333 | 1 lap |
14 | 15 | Christian Klien | Jaguar/Cosworth | 56 | 1:29:24.651 | 1 lap |
15 | 18 | Nick Heidfeld | Jordan/Ford | 56 | 1:29:45.382 | 1 lap |
16 | 19 | Giorgio Pantano | Jordan/Ford | 55 | 1:28:50.551 | 2 laps |
17 | 20 | Gianmaria Bruni | Minardi/Cosworth | 52 | 1:30:00.129 | 5 laps |
(9) | 5 | David Coulthard | McLaren/Mercedes | 50 | 1:18:55.708 | Engine |
(18) | 21 | Z.Baumgartner | Minardi/Cosworth | 44 | 1:12:02.526 | Engine |
(11) | 6 | Kimi Räikkönen | McLaren/Mercedes | 7 | 11:10.116 | Engine |
DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP AFTER 3/19 RACES
1 | Michael Schumacher | 30 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
2 | Rubens Barrichello | 21 | 8 | 5 | 8 |
3 | Jenson Button | 15 | 3 | 6 | 6 |
4 | Juan Pablo Montoya | 12 | 4 | 8 | – |
5 | Fernando Alonso | 11 | 6 | 2 | 3 |
6 | Jarno Trulli | 11 | 2 | 4 | 5 |
7 | Ralf Schumacher | 7 | 5 | – | 2 |
8 | Takuma Sato | 4 | – | – | 4 |
9 | David Coulthard | 4 | 1 | 3 | – |
10 | Felipe Massa | 1 | – | 1 | – |
11 | Mark Webber | 1 | – | – | 1 |
12 | Cristiano da Matta | 0 | – | – | – |
13 | Olivier Panis | 0 | – | – | – |
14 | Giancarlo Fisichella | 0 | – | – | – |
15 | Christian Klien | 0 | – | – | – |
16 | Giorgio Pantano | 0 | – | – | – |
17 | Gianmaria Bruni | 0 | – | – | – |
18 | Nick Heidfeld | 0 | – | – | – |
19 | Zsolt Baumgartner | 0 | – | – | – |
CONSTRUCTORS’ CHAMPIONSHIP
1 | Ferrari | 51 | 18 | 15 | 18 |
2 | Renault | 22 | 8 | 6 | 8 |
3 | Williams/BMW | 19 | 9 | 8 | 2 |
4 | BAR/Honda | 19 | 3 | 6 | 10 |
5 | McLaren/Mercedes | 4 | 1 | 3 | – |
6 | Sauber/Petronas | 1 | – | 1 | – |
7 | Jaguar/Cosworth | 1 | – | – | 1 |
8 | Toyota | 0 | – | – | – |
9 | Jordan/Ford | 0 | – | – | – |
10 | Minardi/Cosworth | 0 | – | – | – |