27.09.2004 Rubens Barrichello drove his Ferrari to a second consecutive race win at the brand new Shanghai International Circuit: Chinese Grand Prix report

Rubens Barrichello’s Prancing Horse trotted home to record the Brazilian’s second consecutive win of the season at Shanghai International Circuit.

After securing his first win of the year at one of the oldest and most historic tracks on the calendar, that is Monza, this time he secured an historic win at the newest and most modern circuit in the world.

If it was an historic moment for Formula 1, it was also an historic moment for China, as the grand prix is the biggest international event ever staged in the country.

The race itself was thrilling and action packed and the Brazilian had to fight every inch of the way to take the win. Rubens was under considerable pressure as he was really the Scuderia’s only chance of victory. Having spun in Saturday qualifying and failed to set a time, the team opted to change the engine on Michael Schumacher’s car, as it had developed a slight coolant leak, prior to qualifying.

This meant he was relegated to the back of the grid, but the team chose to start him from pit lane, meaning they could refuel the car before he started, switching him to a two stop strategy, as opposed to the three adopted for Barrichello. The German eventually finished one lap down in 12th after an eventful afternoon.

Rubens led away from the start, chased by Kimi Raikkonen in the McLaren-Mercedes, while Alonso charged up from sixth to third in his Renault. Immediately, the nature of the circuit meant there was plenty of overtaking to keep the 150,000 crowd entertained, first of all with Button’s BAR-Honda and Massa’s Sauber, swapping places several times.

Excellent grip from the Bridgestone tyres saw Rubens maintain his lead, but not by much as Raikkonen managed to keep in touch. The two men made their first pit stops on lap 12, rejoining in the same order, allowing Button to lead, as the Englishman had dealt with the slower Alonso, who was two stopping.

One lap before that, Schumacher had his first moment of the afternoon, when he clipped the Jaguar of Klien, fortunately without damage to the F2004.

Three laps later and Michael Schumacher’s afternoon took a turn for the worse as he spun at turn 13, having got caught in Alonso’s slipstream, which dropped him from 10th to 12th. By lap 20 Michael had moved up to sixth passing his brother Ralf, just before coming in to refuel for the first time. For several laps, Michael then fought a fascinating duel with his old rival, Jacques Villeneuve in the Renault.

With Raikkonen still in touch with Barrichello, his McLaren team decided to try and get him into the lead by going for a very short second pit stop. The Finn however was slightly delayed coming into pit lane by Bruni’s Minardi and when Barrichello himself also made a short stop, just one tenth of a second slower than the McLaren, Raikkonen’s bold move had failed.

Indeed, worse than that, it meant that Button was able to get ahead to go second and as the BAR-Honda man was on a two stop strategy, he was definitely going to stay ahead of the McLaren. Schumacher, who had got as high as sixth place now saw any chance of a points finish evaporate, as he suffered a puncture and had to drive a long way round the track very slowly to rejoin his pit.

As this occurred several laps before he had been due to refuel for a second and final time, the team had to switch his strategy once again, bringing him in again on lap 48, just after he passed Villeneuve. The world champion rejoined 12th and stayed there to the end.

Meanwhile, Barrichello made his third and final stop on lap 42 of the 56 lap race, rejoining with a comfortable lead. From then on, he eased the pace slightly to ensure the finish, but the final laps were no cruise.

Traffic was one of the factors that saw the top three all close up again and Rubens had to push to ensure the victory. It was certainly a close finish with the top three – Barrichello, Button and Raikkonen, covered by just 1.4 seconds at the flag.

Fittingly, for this victory in China, a very important market for Ferrari, the company president, Luca di Montezemolo was on hand to join Rubens on the podium to collect the Constructors’ trophy. As well as the trophy, he also got an unexpected shower, when the winner tipped an entire magnum of champagne over his boss!