2004 United States Grand Prix
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 9 of 18 in the 2004 Formula One season | |||
 |
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| Date | June 20, 2004 | ||
| Official name | XXXIII Foster's United States Grand Prix | ||
| Location |
Indianapolis Motor Speedway Indianapolis, Indiana |
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| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 4.195 km (2.606 mi) | ||
| Distance | 73 laps, 306.016 km (190.238 mi) | ||
| Weather | Fine with temperatures reaching up to 75 °F (24 °C); wind speeds approaching speeds of 11.1 miles per hour (17.9 km/h) | ||
| Attendance | 92,000 | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Ferrari | ||
| Time | 1:10.223 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |
 Rubens Barrichello
|
Ferrari | |
| Time | 1:10.399 on lap 7 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | Ferrari | ||
| Second | Ferrari | ||
| Third | BAR-Honda | ||
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The 2004 United States Grand Prix, officially the XXXIII Foster's United States Grand Prix, was a Formula One motor race held on June 20, 2004 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Indiana. It was the ninth round of the 2004 Formula One season.
Rubens Barrichello started from pole position in his Ferrari ahead of team mate Michael Schumacher. However, following a start-line incident between five cars, four of whom retired as a result, Schumacher overtook Barrichello on the safety car restart on lap six, and despite a threat from Barrichello after the final pit stops, Schumacher held on to take his eighth win of the season. Takuma Sato became only the second Japanese driver to achieve a podium finish.
The race is most remembered for two Michelin tyre failures in what would be a precedent for the 2005 United States Grand Prix. First, Fernando Alonso's Renault speared off the track at the end of the pit straight on lap nine, before Ralf Schumacher's Williams suffered the same fate, but in the most dangerous part of the track, causing him to hit the wall at a ninety-degree angle rearwards. The impact concussed Schumacher and prevented him from racing until the 2004 Chinese Grand Prix.
Heading into round nine, the season had so far belonged to Michael Schumacher, driving for Ferrari, winning all but one race, in Monaco, owing to a crash with Juan Pablo Montoya, and so had 70 points out of a possible 80. However, Rubens Barrichello, Schumacher's team mate at Ferrari, was only 16 points behind him, having taken six podiums and two other points finishes. In the Constructors' Championship, however, Ferrari were dominating, with 124 points: more than double that of second-placed Renault, the only other team to win a Grand Prix that year so far, with Jarno Trulli triumphing in Monaco. Third-placed BAR had a quick car, but had trouble getting both cars to the finish, with lead driver Jenson Button, like his future team mate Barrichello, picking up six podiums and two other points finishes. However, of the eight races so far, Takuma Sato, in the other BAR, had suffered no less than five spectacular engine failures, three of which had occurred in the last three Grands Prix in Monaco, Europe, and Canada.
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