Date 10 October 2004 | Course length 5.807 km (3.608 mi) | |
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Official name XXX Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix Location Suzuka Circuit, Suzuka, Mie, Japan Course Permanent racing facility Distance 53 laps, 307.771 km (191.224 mi) | ||
The 2004 Japanese Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 10 October 2004 at the Suzuka Circuit. All the running on Saturday was cancelled due to Typhoon Ma-on, meaning that both the qualifying sessions were run on Sunday morning. The grid was shaken up due to rain, Ralf Schumacher and Mark Webber taking fortunate grid positions due to being allotted early running in the session.
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While Michael Schumacher was not as competitive towards the end of the season as he had been en route to his seventh title, Japan could be seen as normal service resumed, the German winning comfortably from pole. Ralf was behind him, taking his first podium since breaking his back at Indianapolis. It was the last time the Schumacher brothers finished in one-two formation (having done so on four other occasions: 2001 Canadian Grand Prix, 2001 French Grand Prix, 2002 Brazilian Grand Prix, 2003 Canadian Grand Prix). At Suzuka in 2003 BAR upset the form book with a double points finish – in 2004 this was commonplace, although 11 points was still their biggest haul of the season. Contact between David Coulthard and Rubens Barrichello ended the race for both drivers. Webber retired in bizarre circumstances – part of the seat had overheated, causing burns to his buttocks.
This was Jarno Trulli's first race with the Toyota team. This was Olivier Panis's last race as he decided to retire from the race seat. But he stayed with the Toyota team, as the test driver. This was Rubens Barrichello's only DNF of the season after colliding with David Coulthard on lap 38.