| The 2004
Malaysian Grand Prix would see BMW WilliamsF1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya
finish second, team-mate Ralf Schumacher would retire with an engine
problem. Ralf would make contact with Mark Webber at the start of the race,
something each driver lays the blame for with the other.
"Mark was pretty aggressive
which I guess came from his start," Schumacher said. "I didn't want a
collision but Mark didn't give me any room. I had a reasonable start but
then I touched with Webber and something broke on my car because I had a lot
of understeer."
 Prior
to the start of the 2004 Malaysian Grand Prix several drivers would take the
opportunity to change their engines, including Renault's Fernando Alonso and
BAR's Takuma Sato. Both drivers are starting from the back of the grid so
they could not be moved back ten grid places. Jordan's Pantano would start
the race from the pit. It was reported that the two Ferrari's were on
different strategies with Barrichello aiming to make any two stops compared
to Michael Schumacher's three.
The conditions were overcast with a slight chance of rain, but the rain
would start to fall prior to the drivers making their race starts. Nobody
was looking to change their tyres as everyone searched the skies looking for
how long the rain would last. Even with the rain the track was remaining dry
due to the high temperatures. McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen would spin on the
parade lap, but he was able to retake his grid position.
So with everyone still on dry tyres they would start the race and it would
be Michael Schumacher leading Barrichello, Montoya, and Raikkonen. Webber
was to make a terrible start. Raikkonen would be struggling with his car as
after one lap Michael would be 2.0 seconds ahead. Juan Pablo was in third,
but he would pass Rubens. The rain would get heavier and Raikkonen would
pass Rubens. Juan Pablo would set the fastest lap time. a 1m:39.335. Button
in fifth would be climbing all over Rubens, but Jenson would be passed by
Trulli only for the BAR to quickly repass the Renault.
Lap four and Michael was 1.6 seconds ahead of Juan Pablo. Alonso would pass
Webber for eighth. This was amazing considering Alonso started from the back
of the grid. Lap five and Michael is leading by 1.8 seconds. Ralf would also
pass Mark Webber with the Jaguar driver appearing to have a puncture. He
would drop down the order and pit to take on new tyres and fuel. BAR's Sato
would spin on lap six putting his car into the gravel. He would rejoin the
track in sixteenth.
Lap seven and Juan Pablo was 4.2 seconds behind Michael in second. Raikkonen
was in third with Rubens fourth. Ralf was down in ninth. Button was fifth
and Trulli sixth. By lap eight the track was to have dried out. Lap nine and
Sauber's Fisichella would pit. For Mark Webber his day would get even worse
when he was given a penalty for speeding in the pitlane.
 Michael
Schumacher would pit joined by Coulthard and Alonso. Michael would stop for
8.2 seconds. Lap ten and Juan Pablo would lead the race. Raikkonen,
Barrichello, and Trulli would all pit, leaving Button in second. Trulli
would beat Rubens back out on the track. The WilliamsF1 mechanics would
start to get ready and it would be Ralf who would pit first, 8.1 seconds.
Lap twelve and Juan Pablo would pit, joined by Button. Michael would retake
the lead. Lap thirteen and Heidfeld would pit. Michael was now leading the
race by 6.4 seconds from Juan Pablo.
But Juan Pablo would be
pushing hard setting the fastest first sector time. He would set the fastest
lap, a 1m:34.649, to reduce the lead to Michael. Rubens was down in sixth.
Juan Pablo would continue to reduce the gap to Michael.
Lap eighteen and Trulli would challenge Raikkonen with the Renault driver
just 0.4 seconds behind. Renault team-mate Alonso would lose time to seventh
placed Coulthard, the Renault suffering from understeer. Jordan's Pantano
was yet to make his first pit stop. At the front the gap between the FW26
and the F2004 would stabilise. Ralf's poor race would continue running wide
at the final turn losing more time.
Trulli would pit on lap twenty one, 8 seconds, joined by Toyota's da Matta
from fifteenth. Michael's lead had grown again to be 4.6 seconds. Panis
would pit from fourteenth. Coulthard and Alonso would be fighting over
sixth. Michael would take another eight tenths from Juan Pablo. Lap twenty
four and Pantano would make his first stop, while Alonso would finally pass
Coulthard. Jaguar's Christian Klein would make his second stop. Both Alonso
and Coulthard would pit, with Coulthard getting out in front after Alonso
had a long stop.
The following lap and Raikkonen would stop from third, while Mark Webber's
race would end in the gravel after he spun at the final corner. Both Juan
Pablo and Michael would pit, the FW26 following the Ferrari into the pits.
Button would also stop from third. Michael would push hard on his out lap
setting a fastest second sector time. Barrichello would lead the race. Ralf
was in fourth yet to make his second stop.
Juan Pablo would attempt to fight back setting a new fastest first sector
time. This would see him set a new fastest lap time of 1m:34.223 to be a
second faster than Michael. Rubens would finally pit for his second stop.
Lap twenty eight and Ralf would retire with what appeared to be engine
failure. Lap twenty nine and Michael's lead was down to 6.6 seconds.
 Lap
thirty three and it was down to 5.4 seconds. Minardi's Baumgartner would run
wide onto the grass while he let the leaders past. Barrichello would close
in on to Raikkonen. Button was in third. Juan Pablo would respond to Michael
and start to set times 0.5 seconds faster than Michael. BY lap thirty seven
the gap was down to 3.7 seconds. da Matta would pit, joined by Klein.
Heidfeld would retire in his garage. Lap thirty nine and Coulthard would
pit. Panis would stop from eleventh. Juan Pablo would make his final stop,
7.9 seconds.
Michael would pit the next
lap, joined by Button and Raikkonen. Trulli would also make his final stop,
only changing his rear tyres. On his out lap Juan Pablo would be pushing
hard setting the fastest third sector time. For Raikkonen his race would end
on his first lap out of the pits stopping out on the circuit with an engine
problem. Raikkonen looked far from happy as he walked away from his McLaren.
Juan Pablo was in third right behind Barrichello in second. The gap to
Michael would grown out to be 8.1 seconds as a result of Rubens appearing to
deliberately slow, setting a sector time slower than a Minardi. It will be
interesting to hear Juan Pablo's views on this.
Rubens would pit on lap forty four, stopping for 6.9 seconds. By lap forty
five Juan Pablo was 9.2 seconds behind Michael. Lap forty seven and Panis
would pit but would drive straight back out, as it looked like the Toyota
team was not ready for him. he would subsequently getting a penalty for
speeding in the pit lane. With just six laps left there was no way that Juan
Pablo could make up the 9.4 second gap to Michael and the WilliamsF1 driver
would appear to settle for second.
Michael's lead would grow as
the laps counted down. Lap fifty four and after an excellent run Takuma
Sato's engine would fail seeing him retire. Barrichello would challenge
Button for third, with the Ferrari closing the gap.
So Michael would cross the finish line winning the race with Juan Pablo
second and Button, scoring his first podium, in third. Barrichello would
come in fourth, with Trulli fifth, Coulthard sixth. The final two points
went o Alonso and Sauber's Felipe Massa. |
