Formula 1

About the season

Schumacher won 13 of the season's 18 races, including seven in a row, the most dominant individual season in F1 history at the time, a record only matched by Sebastian Vettel in 2013. At the United States Grand Prix in Indianapolis, Schumacher's win was overshadowed by his brother Ralf's severe crash: a tyre failure sent his car into the wall at high speed, leaving him with spinal fractures and a concussion that sidelined him for six races and three months. That year saw the inaugural Chinese Grand Prix on the brand-new Shanghai circuit, won not by the all-conquering Schumacher but by his teammate Barrichello from pole, opening Formula 1's gateway into China. Ferrari's dominance was so overwhelming that the FIA rewrote the rulebook for the following season (single-lap qualifying, tyres that had to last a whole race weekend) specifically to break it up. Michael Schumacher won the 2004 Drivers' Championship with 148 points (Ferrari), 34 points ahead of the runner-up. Ferrari won the Constructors' Championship with 262 points, 143 points ahead of the runner-up. Across 18 completed races this season, there were 102 retirements. 5 different drivers won a race this season. Michael Schumacher took the most race wins, 13 in total. Schumacher won the season-opening race, the Australian Grand Prix. The closest finish of the season came at the Monaco Grand Prix, with a gap of just 0.497 seconds. The Monaco Grand Prix saw the most retirements of the season, with 11 drivers failing to finish. The most dominant win of the season came at the European Grand Prix, with a margin of 18.0 seconds. Trulli made the biggest gain of the season at the United States Grand Prix, from grid position 20 to finishing 4 (up 16 places). The season's biggest upset win came from Räikkönen at the Belgian Grand Prix, starting from grid position 10. Pablo Montoya won the Brazilian Grand Prix, the final race of the season.