Round One,
Albert Park,
Melbourne, Australia
Schumacher Wins Processional Race in Australia
Sunday March 7th, 2004
By Will Gray
World Champion Michael Schumacher kicked off his title defence with an impressive performance at Albert Park as he cruised to victory for Ferrari in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.
Schumacher, who claimed the title by just two points last season, galloped into an unassailable lead and eased his way to the finish after his main title rivals struggled to perform.
All the pre-season hype about a close Championship battle this season was blown away by Schumacher as he showed a dominant pace in the mild conditions at Melbourne to lead home a Ferrari one-two ahead of team-mate Rubens Barrichello.
His rivals were nowhere. Kimi Raikkonen, last year's runner up, failed to complete even ten laps of the race before retiring while the performance of the Williams team proved disappointing.
Both their drivers, Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya, were beaten to third by the Renault of Spaniard Fernando Alonso as they battled home to fourth and fifth places respectively.
But even Alonso was more than half a minute behind the victorious Ferrari pairing, who crept their cars around the track in celebration as they headed towards parc ferme.
Jenson Button came home sixth after enjoying some good battles with the Williams pair while Jarno Trulli made it two points-scoring finishes for Renault and David Coulthard got a consolation point for McLaren-Mercedes.
The two Ferraris moved smoothly ahead at the start as third-placed Montoya struggled with wheelspin and Alonso shot across the grass to pass him and move up to third.
Montoya dropped to seventh, behind Williams-BMW team-mate Schumacher, who had started eighth, while Trulli was another big winner at the start when he moved up four places to fifth.
Raikkonen and Mark Webber also suffered disappointing getaways and Raikkonen, who is one of the drivers expected to challenge for the Championship this season, dropped down to 13th.
Schumacher, relaxed at the front and enjoying the Bridgestone-benefiting cool conditions, traded record laps with team-mate Barrichello as the Ferrari pair slowly eased away from the pack at a second per lap.
Raikkonen, meanwhile, was struggling to cope with the pace and, after being passed by Felipe Massa's Sauber he spun into retirement after the engine on his McLaren appeared to let go on lap nine.
The early stoppers began coming into the pits with Montoya the first leading driver in on lap 10 and Barrichello and Alonso, from second and third places respectively, following him on the following lap.
Michael and Ralf Schumacher both came at the end of lap 12 and the Ferrari driver came out in the lead after a long wait in the pits for his fuel filler to complete the stop.
After the leading drivers' first stops were completed Michael Schumacher led Barrichello, Alonso, Button, Ralf Schumacher and Trulli with Montoya and Webber completing the top eight.
Italian Minardi driver Gianmaria Bruni became the first man to be lapped in the new season on lap 14 and not long after his Hungarian team-mate Zsolt Baumgartner was forced to retire.
Montoya forced his way past Trulli on lap 25 after being held up by the Renault driver and on the same lap Alonso, in the second Renault, pitted for a second time from third place.
With the second set of stops completed Schumacher led Barrichello with Alonso still in third, Ralf Schumacher past Button and up to fourth, Montoya sixth, Trulli seventh and Coulthard in the final points-scoring position in eighth.
Mark Webber became the third retirement on lap 32 in the Jaguar while at the front the Ferrari pair controlled the pace and extended their lead on Alonso to more than half a minute.
On lap 39 Montoya attacked Button for fifth place and he used the Williams machine's superior pace - and all the race track - to push Button onto the grass and squeeze through.
Schumacher and Montoya pitted at the end of lap 45 and, while Ferrari put in yet another smooth stop, Williams had a problem with the right rear tyre and Montoya was delayed.
Bruni completed a disappointing day for Minardi when he retired. Nick Heidfeld, who had bumped into one of his Jordan mechanics during a pit stop, also stopped soon after as did Felipe Massa after an impressive showing for Sauber.
But at the front, there was no stopping the Bridgestone-shod Ferrari pair as they put in lap after lap of dominant times to leave their Michelin rivals hoping for warmer conditions in the races to come. |
