Barrichello Heads Ferrari One-Two
Written by John Davison · September 12, 2004
Rubens Barrichello took advantage of a mid-race change to a three-stop strategy to take command of the Italian Grand Prix, leading a Ferrari sweep of the manufacturer’s home grand prix.
The 2004 Italian Grand Prix started on a wet but drying track with car setups a gamble for all teams. Ferrari opted to start Barrichello on intermediate weather tires while Michael Schumacher’s Ferrari started the race on dries.
Schumacher dropped to 15th after a first-lap spin at the first chicane. He started the race on dry tires while fellow Ferrari driver Rubens Barrichello started on intermediates. Barrichello, starting from pole, simply drove away from the field on the start, opening a huge gap over the field. Fernando Alonzo, starting from fourth, rocketed ahead on the start and into second place. Four laps later, he got around Barrichello for the lead as they entered the Ascari chicane.
A Minardi pit stop for Gianmaria Bruni resulted in a flash fire as fuel spilled from the nozzle as it was removed from the car but pit road fire marshals responded instantly, extinguishing the flames but the car was still pushed into the garage enclosure, out for the day.
Alonzo spun off in the gravel with 13 laps left, didn’t stall but the marshals didn’t push him off, instead forcing him to retire on the spot. Barrichello pitted for fuel and tires with just ten laps to go and managed to get back on the track in front of the battle for second between Jenson Button and Michael Schumacher, just as Schumi passed Button for position.
Schumacher moved to within a handful of seconds of Barrichello, then held place to the finish as “Rubinho” took the one race he most wanted to win: Monza.Schumacher followed in second with Button third for his ninth podium of the season. Takuma Sato followed his teammate home to give BAR-Honda third and fourth while Juan Pablo Montoya took fifth for Williams-BMW. The top 11 cars were all on the lead lap
As of Sunday’s race, Schumacher has led more laps in the 2004 season than Kimi Raikkonnen has completed. Barrichello has completed every lap of every race this year as well.
Provisional Results, 2004 Italian Grand Prix
Pos, Driver, Car, Margin, Best Lap on Lap
1, Rubens Barrichello, No. 2 Ferrari, Leader, 1:21.046, 41
2, Michael Schumacher, No. 1 Ferrari, 1.3 sec, 1:21.361, 35
3, Jenson Button, No. 9 BAR-Honda, 10.1 sec, 1:22.671, 13
4, Takuma Sato, No. 10 BAR-Honda, 15.3 sec, 1:22.660, 32
5, Juan Pablo Montoya, No. 3 Williams-BMW, 32.3 sec, 1:22.929, 32
6, David Coulthard, No. 5 McLaren-Mercedes, 33.4 sec, 1:22.889, 24
7, Antonio Pizzonia, No. 4 Williams-BMW, 33.7 sec, 1:22.246, 32
8, Giancarlo Fisichella, No. 11 Sauber-Petronas, 35.4 sec, 1:22.615, 51
9, Mark Webber, No. 14 Jaguar-Cosworth, 56.7 sec, 1:23.090, 53
10, Jarno Trulli, No. 7 Renault, 66.3 sec, 1:22.855, 52
11, Ricardo Zonta, No. 16 Toyota, 82.5 sec, 1:23.410, 52
12, Felipe Massa, No. 12 Sauber-Petronas, 1 lap, 1:22.941, 50
13, Christian Klien, No. 15 Jaguar-Cosworth, 1 lap, 1:23.432, 29
14, Nick Heidfeld, No. 18 Jordan-Ford, 1 lap, 1:24.166, 23
15, Zsolt Baumgartner, No. 21 Minardi-Cosworth, 3 laps, 1:26.356, 31
DNF, Fernando Alonso, No. 8 Renault, 13 laps
DNF, Giorgio Pantano, No. 19 Jordan-Ford, 20 laps
DNF, Gianmaria Bruni, No. 20 Minardi-Cosworth, 24 laps
DNF, Kimi R
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4 Responses to “Barrichello Heads Ferrari One-Two”
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Michael wins the championship one weekend having never lost to Barrichello all season long. The next race after he’s got #7, his teammate Rubens win pole, fast lap and the race itself.
What a coincidence!
This is exactly what I was thinking. How convenient, also, that Rubens won in Italy. *wink* *wink*
Well observed.
We all know Ferrari centered around Michael Schumacher. Therefore, the coincidence may be interpreted in two opposite ways, as far as Barrichello’s true driving skills…
F1 is not boring. Ferrari’s obsession with Schumacher is what currently adds the boring component.
As Frank Williams pleaded (in Autosport?) a couple of months ago, “Let Barrichello RACE!”
Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello had the most one-two finishes of any pairing in F1 history. How many one-two finishes did they have? Please let me know…