Schumacher wins at Silverstone

Michael Schumacher has won the British Grand Prix from Kimi Raikkonen with Rubens Barrichello third.

Sun, 11 Jul, 2004 - 15:31

Michael Schumacher has won the British Grand Prix from Kimi Raikkonen with Rubens Barrichello third.

Schumacher initially looked to have stolen a march on the opposition with a clever two-stop strategy but his advantage was wiped out when the safety car bunched the field up with 18 laps to go after Jarno Trulli crashed heavily.

That made it a straight fight to the finish and despite heavy pressure from Raikkonen, six-times world champion Schumacher held his nerve and took his third win at Silverstone and his 80th grand prix victory.

Schumacher’s win extends his advantage in the title race to 26 points over Ferrari team-mate Rubens Barrichello, who held off Button to finish third.

Button was a disappointing fourth for BAR, although he remains the best-placed non-Ferrari driver in the championship, 47 points down on Schumacher. Juan Pablo Montoya took fifth for Williams with Sauber’s Giancarlo Fisichella sixth, McLaren’s David Coulthard seventh and Jaguar’s Mark Webber eighth.

Raikkonen looked capable of taking his first win of the season after making an astonishing start from pole position, streaking clear of the chasing pack to lead by 3.5 seconds after lap one.

Behind him Button had to fend off Schumacher’s attention and that kept him from attacking second-placed Barrichello while further back Montoya took advantage of Takuma Sato’s error to move up to seventh after the Japanese driver ran wide at Chapel on lap three.

Raikkonen could not stretch his lead beyond four seconds in the early stages with last year’s winner Barrichello in hot pursuit.

The Brazilian was inching closer to the lead but his charge was halted by an early pit stop on lap nine which dropped him to 10th.

But leader Raikkonen followed into the pits after 11 laps to leave Schumacher out front, with the Finn frustratingly finding himself stuck behind Sato, now running third.

Schumacher upped the pressure with a string of fast lap, stretching out three seconds a lap on Raikkonen who found backmarker particularly troublesome.

The time he lost in traffic proved costly as Schumacher was able to pit after 15 laps and rejoin narrowly in the lead as Olivier Panis retired his Toyota and Giorgio Pantano spun his Jordan.

Raikkonen kept Schumacher under pressure and began to reel him in at one third distance, with the world champion slowing slightly and allowing Button to close in on the scrap.

Button lost out in the second round of pit stops with Barrichello able to sneak ahead, dropping him to fourth.

Schumacher again showed his legendary ability to deliver fast laps when strategy requires, taking up to a second a lap off Raikkonen.

Minardi suffered a disastrous 32nd lap with Gianmaria Bruni overshooting his pit and then stalling as Zsolt Baumgartner’s car expired. It marked an unhappy end to a difficult weekend for the team, whose sporting director John Walton died on Friday.

Schumacher, who opted for two stops rather than the three chosen by his rivals, pitted on lap 37 and emerged just clear of Raikkonen, who still needed his final stop.

The Finn’s chances of victory looked remote until Trulli suffered a heavy accident on the 41st lap, slamming into the tyre wall and rolling his Renault over in the gravel.

He was unhurt but the safety car was deployed to clear wreckage and Raikkonen, Barrichello and Button took the opportunity to make their last stops and wipe out some of Schumacher’s lead.

After four laps under the safety car, the cars returned to racing and Raikkonen dispatched backmarkers Cristiano da Matta and Christian Klien and immediately roared up to the gearbox of Schumacher’s Ferrari.

Schumacher was up to the challenge though and gradually pulled clear in the remaining laps to win by 2.1 seconds from Raikkonen, who claimed his and McLaren’s best result of the season.

Formula 1 British Grand Prix, Silverstone

60 laps: 1 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Ferrari 1hr 24mins 42.700secs, 2 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) McLaren Mercedes 1:24:44.830, 3 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Ferrari 1:24:45.814, 4 Jenson Button (Gbr) BAR Honda 1:24:53.383, 5 Juan Montoya (Col) Williams BMW 1:24:54.873, 6 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Sauber Petronas 1:24:55.588, 7 David Coulthard (Gbr) McLaren Mercedes 1:25:02.368, 8 Mark Webber (Aus) Jaguar 1:25:06.401, 9 Felipe Massa (Bra) Sauber Petronas 1:25:06.723, 10 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 1:25:07.535, 11 Takuma Sato (Jpn) BAR Honda 1:25:16.436, 12 Marc Gene (Spa) Williams BMW 1:25:17.003, 13 Cristiano Da Matta (Bra) Toyota at 1 lap, 14 Christian Klien (Aut) Jaguar at 1 lap, 15 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) Jordan Cosworth at 1 lap, 16 Gianmaria Bruni (Ita) Minardi Cosworth at 4 laps

Not Classified: 17 Giorgio Pantano (Ita) Jordan Cosworth 47 laps completed, 18 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Renault 39 laps completed, 19 Zsolt Baumgartner (Hun) Minardi Cosworth 29 laps completed, 20 Olivier Panis (Fra) Toyota 16 laps completed

Fastest Lap: Michael Schumacher (Ger) Ferrari 1min 18.739secs on lap 13

World Championship Standings

Drivers’ Championship:

1 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Ferrari 100,

2 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Ferrari 74,

3 Jenson Button (Gbr) BAR Honda 53,

4 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Renault 46,

5 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 33,

6 Juan Montoya (Col) Williams BMW 29,

7 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) McLaren Mercedes 18,

8 Takuma Sato (Jpn) BAR Honda 14,

9 David Coulthard (Gbr) McLaren Mercedes 14,