Formula 1 News - Latest News

May 2004

30 May 2004 Well, no surprises there. M. Schumacher added another victory to his ever-increasing collection, followed by Barrichello, who had opted for a two-stop strategy. Button finished third after Sato retired with a blown engine. The Japanese had previously survived a shunt when he rammed Barrichello's car on the side trying to overtake it for second place, ending up with a broken nosecone. Trulli, Alonso, Fisichella and Webber followed. Montoya managed to bring home one point, despite running into the side of team mate R. Schumacher at the start, taking him and Da Matta out at the same time. Räikkönen's good race was once again stopped by the Mercedes engine's curse when the Finn was in second position. Later, David Coulthard also went up in smoke, having started at the back of the grid thanks to yet another blown engine in pre-qualifying.

European GP finishing times:

1. 1 M. SCHUMACHER Ferrari B 1h32'35"101 200.160 Km/h
2. 2 BARRICHELLO Ferrari B +0'17"989 199.514 Km/h
3. 9 BUTTON BAR Honda M +0'22"533 199.351 Km/h
4. 7 TRULLI Renault M +0'53"673 198.244 Km/h
5. 8 ALONSO Renault M +1'00"987 197.986 Km/h
6. 11 FISICHELLA Sauber Petronas B +1'13"448 197.548 Km/h
7. 14 WEBBER Jaguar Cosworth M +1'16"206 197.451 Km/h
8. 3 MONTOYA Williams BMW M 1 lap
9. 12 MASSA Sauber Petronas B 1 lap
10. 18 HEIDFELD Jordan Ford B 1 lap
11. 17 PANIS Toyota M 1 lap
12. 15 KLIEN Jaguar Cosworth M 1 lap
13. 19 PANTANO Jordan Ford B 2 laps
14. 20 BRUNI Minardi Cosworth B 3 laps
15. 21 BAUMGARTNER Minardi Cosworth B 3 laps
16. 10 SATO BAR Honda M 13 laps
17. 5 COULTHARD McLaren Mercedes M 35 laps
18. 6 RAIKKONEN McLaren Mercedes M 51 laps
19. 4 R. SCHUMACHER Williams BMW M 60 laps
20. 16 DA MATTA Toyota M 60 laps

29 May 2004 M. Schumacher's bid at forgetting last weekend's race started with him clocking the fastest lap to take pole position away from Trulli, who had held it up to that point. Sato went out after him and managed to relegate the unfortunate Trulli to the second row. Räikkönen fared considerably better than he has so far in 2004 and took the second row grid spot alongside Trulli. His team mate Coulthard, though, suffered a broken engine in pre-qualifying and chose not to qualify and start from the pit lanes instead. Fisichella, who also suffered an engine failure, made the same decision. Button, who was hindered by a lack of grip, took fifth place alongside Alonso, while Barrichello and Montoya will share the fourth row of the grid. Webber was penalised for doing his fastest lap under yellow flag conditions yesterday and one second was added to his qualifying time.

European GP qualifying times (grid):

1. 1 M. SCHUMACHER Ferrari B 1'28"351 209.763 Km/h
2. 10 SATO BAR Honda M 1'28"986 +0'00"635
3. 7 TRULLI Renault M 1'29"135 +0'00"784
4. 6 RAIKKONEN McLaren Mercedes M 1'29"137 +0'00"786
5. 9 BUTTON BAR Honda M 1'29"245 +0'00"894
6. 8 ALONSO Renault M 1'29"313 +0'00"962
7. 2 BARRICHELLO Ferrari B 1'29"353 +0'01"002
8. 3 MONTOYA Williams BMW M 1'29"354 +0'01"003
9. 4 R. SCHUMACHER Williams BMW M 1'29"459 +0'01"108
10. 17 PANIS Toyota M 1'29"697 +0'01"346
11. 16 DA MATTA Toyota M 1'29"706 +0'01"355
12. 14 WEBBER Jaguar Cosworth M 1'30"797 +0'02"446
13. 15 KLIEN Jaguar Cosworth M 1'31"431 +0'03"080
14. 18 HEIDFELD Jordan Ford B 1'31"604 +0'03"253
15. 19 PANTANO Jordan Ford B 1'31"979 +0'03"628
16. 12 MASSA Sauber Petronas B 1'31"982 +0'03"631
17. 20 BRUNI Minardi Cosworth B 1'34"022 +0'05"671

23 May 2004 Those who expected a boring procession of cars at Monaco, with the winner whoever came out of the last pit stop in the lead, were pleasently surprised by today's GP. First of all, the usual suspect did not win the race. In fact, M. Schumacher did not even finish it. Sato made a blazing start from seventh place, which later Coulthard suggested was a jump start, and leapfrogged several cars, only to end up with a blown engine on lap three. In the smaoke, Fisichella hit Coulthard's McLaren from behind and leapt into the air, landing upside down on the track. Luckily the Italian suffered only minor bruises and walked away, but his race and that of Coulthard's had ended. The other McLaren, that of Räikkönen, retired towards the end of the race when telemetry showed that the engine was going to fail. Alonso's race ended when he came to lap R. Schumacher on the outside in the tunnel. The German, according to Alonso, made it difficult for him to go past, the wheels of the Renault ended up on the dirt and Alonso crashed into the side of the tunnel, retiring with a smashed car. In the Safety Car situation that ensued, M. Schuamcher found himself in the lead, albeit with one less pit stop than Trulli. When the message came that the Safety Car was going to come in at the end of the lap, M. Schumacher strated warming his brakes by waving on the track. Montoya was caught unaware and failed to slow down in time, putting himself between the inside tunnel wall and the Ferrari, pushing M. Schumacher into the external wall and out of the race. The Colombian later apologised to an irate M. Schumacher. Trulli went on to win his first ever Grand Prix, despite Button's BAR breathing down his neck for the last 10 laps of the GP. The Briton finished second, while Barrichello provided the splash of red that seems to be compulsory on the podium this season.

Monaco GP finishing times:

1 J. Trulli Ita Renault 1h45'46"601 (145,881 km/h)
2 J. Button Gb BAR +0"497
3 R. Barrichello Bra Ferrari +1'15"766
4 J. Montoya Col Williams +1 lap
5 F. Massa Bra Sauber +1 lap
6 C. Da Matta Bra Toyota +1 lap
7 N. Heidfeld Ger Jordan +2 laps
8 O. Panis Fra Toyota +3 laps
9 Z. Baumgartner Hun Minardi +6 laps
10 R. Schumacher Ger Williams +8 laps

11 May 2004 According to media reports, Jos Verstappen is set to replace Nick Heidfeld (who has no personal sponsorship) at Jordan. The size of the driver could still be a problem, as Verstappen is considerably taller than Heidfeld and Pantano, the two drivers around whom the EJ14 cockpit was designed.

10 May 2004 Jacques Villeneuve could come back to Formula 1, according to recent rumours. The Canadian is set to test a BMW-powered racer in the near future.

10 May 2004 Jenson Button has had to undergo a hospital check-up at the Moorfield Eye Hospital in London, after a piece of carbon fibre became lodged in one of his eyes during the Spanish GP. No problem was found by the doctors and the driver is expected to take part in testing at Le Castellet on Wednesday.

9 May 2004 Five manufacturers, Ferrari, Mercedes, BMW, Renault and Jaguar, are unhappy about the way Formula 1 is being run and are threatening to pull out if things do not change. The five manufacturers want more transparency in the way the sport is run and also to be granted a controlling interest in its organisation.

9 May 2004 No surprise as to the winner of the Spanish GP, despite a fantastic start by Trulli, who came through from the second row and took the lead, with M. Schumacher choosing not to challenge. The standard formation was restored at the first pit stop, while Barrichello, on a two-stop strategy, failed to challenge his team mate for the lead after a tyre mishap during his second pit stop. Montoya did not make the aggressive started that many had predicted, instead suffered from brake problems from lap three onwards, and ended up retiring with a disastrous brake failure that saw him running over one of his mechanics. The collective heart of the McLaren team must have sunk when M. Schumacher, battling a cracked exhaust, lapped Räikkönen and Coulthard in a row with 22 laps still to go. Renault made a goos show of it, with Trulli finishing third and Alonso fourth. Sato, R. Schumacher, Fisichella and Button also finished in the points.

Spanish GP finishing times:

1. 1 M. SCHUMACHER Ferrari B 1h27'32"841 209.205 Km/h
2. 2 BARRICHELLO Ferrari B +0'13"290 208.677 Km/h
3. 7 TRULLI Renault M +0'32"294 207.927 Km/h
4. 8 ALONSO Renault M +0'32"952 207.901 Km/h
5. 10 SATO BAR Honda M +0'42"327 207.533 Km/h
6. 4 R. SCHUMACHER Williams BMW M +1'13"804 206.307 Km/h
7. 11 FISICHELLA Sauber Petronas B +1'17"108 206.179 Km/h
8. 9 BUTTON BAR Honda M 1 lap
9. 12 MASSA Sauber Petronas B 1 lap
10. 5 COULTHARD McLaren Mercedes M 1 lap
11. 6 RAIKKONEN McLaren Mercedes M 1 lap
12. 14 WEBBER Jaguar Cosworth M 1 lap
13. 16 DA MATTA Toyota M 1 lap
14. 19 PANTANO Jordan Ford B 15 laps
15. 3 MONTOYA Williams BMW M 20 laps
16. 15 KLIEN Jaguar Cosworth M 23 laps
17. 17 PANIS Toyota M 33 laps

8 May 2004 A mistake by Button made him run wide at Campsa and robbed him of what could have been a start in the front row of the Spanish GP. Instead, obvious pole driver M. Schumacher will be alongside Montoya, who beat BAR's Sato by a cat's whisker. M. Schumacher put in a lap of lap 1:15.022, considerably better than the pace Ferrari has had all weekend, suggesting that the team was either sandbagging in practice, or took a large amount of fuel out of the car for qualifying. The second option is not necessarily anything to lose sleep about, since the Spanish GP is most definitely a three-stopper. The second Ferrari driver, Barrichello, found himself relegated to fiftth place, behind Renault's Trulli. Williams' R. Schumacher managed to stay ahead of Panis and Alonso. The McLaren again were conspicuous for their underperformance, with Coulthard qualifying in 10th place and Räikkönen in 13th.

Spanish GP qualifying session times (starting positions):

1. 1 M. SCHUMACHER Ferrari B 1'15"022 222.031 Km/h
2. 3 MONTOYA Williams BMW M 1'15"639 +0'00"617
3. 10 SATO BAR Honda M 1'15"890 +0'00"868
4. 7 TRULLI Renault M 1'16"144 +0'01"122
5. 2 BARRICHELLO Ferrari B 1'16"272 +0'01"250
6. 4 R. SCHUMACHER Williams BMW M 1'16"293 +0'01"271
7. 17 PANIS Toyota M 1'16"313 +0'01"291
8. 8 ALONSO Renault M 1'16"422 +0'01"400
9. 14 WEBBER Jaguar Cosworth M 1'16"514 +0'01"492
10. 5 COULTHARD McLaren Mercedes M 1'16"636 +0'01"614
11. 16 DA MATTA Toyota M 1'17"038 +0'02"016
12. 11 FISICHELLA Sauber Petronas B 1'17"444 +0'02"422
13. 6 RAIKKONEN McLaren Mercedes M 1'17"445 +0'02"423
14. 9 BUTTON BAR Honda M 1'17"575 +0'02"553
15. 18 HEIDFELD Jordan Ford B 1'17"802 +0'02"780
16. 15 KLIEN Jaguar Cosworth M 1'17"812 +0'02"790
17. 12 MASSA Sauber Petronas B 1'17"866 +0'02"844

Last updated on by Federica Massagrande