ROUND 1 - AUSTRALIAN GP - RACEYou join us here in Australia for the opening round of the 2004 F1 season. This year looks more exciting then ever as bookies seem unable to decide on who is favourite to win both the WDC and the WCC. Yesterday's qualifying saw Rubens Barrichello take pole on his first attempt for his new team Williams. All eyes will be on him to see if he can bring it home or if we'll see another winner. It's time to get an indication on who is fast and who is not so lets head down to the track for the first race of the season.
58/58 And we're off!! Great start by BArrichello but Verstappen beats him into the first corner and takes the lead
57/58 This is what we like to see as Villeneuve makes a move on Montoya and passes him! Montoya comes straight back at him but clips Villeneuve, punting Villeneuve off. Montoya goes off also and hits the barrier. Montoya goes from 14th to last and will have to pit for a new front wing. Villeneuve is now running in 21st.
56/58 Well it's more bad news for Williams i'm afraid as Barrichello has a brake problem and will have to pit from 3rd. Pizzonia runs wide in the Jaguar, demoting him from 17th to 21st. Jani also has an off sending him down the order.
55/58 De La Rosa is the first retirement off the day as he crashes out of 15th in his Jordan.
53/58 M Schumacher tries a move on his brother Ralf but they touch. Michael spins win Ralf goes off wide. Michael was 7th and rejoins in 18th while Ralf is now behind him in 19th
48/58 A look at the top 8 after 10 laps
47/58 M Schumacher is at it again as he connects with Pizzonia now. Both go off
43/58 Button starts to make his way up passing Panis for 11th
36/58 Massa runs wide handing Webber 9th. Also Button has made a mistake off camera as he is now 19th
35/58 Davidson who was running 8th for Minardi has electrical problems and is forced to pit early
33/58 Montoya is the first mechanical retirement of 2004 as his BMW engine lets go
31/58 Massa is now retiring with suspension problems. He was in 9th
30/58 Glock moved up into 9th after his team mate retired, but Glock's engine has just let go, retiring him from his debut grand prix
26/58 Drivers begin to make their one and only scheduled stops
21/58 Well i don't know what's going on at arrows but they've brung their drivers in at the same time. Villeneuve is the one who loses out here
18/58 Wow BUtton has played this just right as he is now up to 10th after those stops!
17/58 Well here's a sight i thought i'd never see. Verstappen has just lapped his team mate M Schumacher! They are certainly having two different races today
16/58 More bad news for Arrows as Wurz retires from 15th with an oil leak
15/58 Raikkonen hits Sato. They both lose time but luckily no positions
10/58 A look at the top 8 with just 10 laps to go
8/58 Barrichello, M Schumacher and BUtton are all battling it out for 10th but M Schumacher comes out on top followed by Barrichello
2/58 M Schumacher now moves up into 9th after passing Davidson
1/58 Oh no with 1 lap to go Sato has made the mistake Raikkonen was waiting for. Raikkonen has been piling on the pressure and forced Sato to outbreak himself. Wilson also follows him through as Sato is now 6th
0/58 Verstappen brings it home to win on his Ferrari debut! MDBSnake will no doubt be delighted with this result. Is it just a one off? Or is this genuine pace from the dutchman...
Race ResultsAustralia - Albert Park
(58 Laps)
Pos Driver Time/Speed
1st Jos Verstappen 1h 25m 46.779s
Ferrari-
2nd Fernando Alonso +11.813s
McLaren-Mercedes
3rd David Coulthard +13.269s
McLaren-Mercedes
4th Kimi Raikkonen +32.793s
Renault-
5th Justin Wilson +33.502s
Renault-
6th Takuma Sato +37.610s
BAR-Honda
7th Nick Heidfeld +44.017s
Sauber-Petronas
8th Mark Webber +56.934s
Jaguar-Honda
9th Michael Schumacher -1 Lap
Ferrari-
10th Rubens Barrichello -1 Lap
Williams-BMW
11th Anthony Davidson -1 Lap
Minardi-Petronas
12th Jenson Button -1 Lap
Jordan-Honda
13th Ralf Schumacher -1 Lap
BAR-Honda
14th Olivier Panis -1 Lap
Minardi-Petronas
15th Neel Jani -1 Lap
Sauber-Petronas
16th Jacques Villeneuve -1 Lap
Arrows-Ford
17th Antonio Pizzonia -1 Lap
Jaguar-Honda
18th Alex Wurz Oil Leak
Arrows-Ford
19th Timo Glock Engine
Toyota-
20th Fellipe Massa Suspension
Toyota-
21st Juan Pablo Montoya Engine
Williams-BMW
22nd Pedro De La Rosa Didn't Finish
Jordan-Honda
Fastest Lap - Michael Schumacher 1m26.979
DOTD - Verstappen - Cracking debut for the Ferrari driver. He's went from being at the back of the grid to the front without any problems what so ever