Rubens Barrichello wins first-ever Chinese GP - on this day in 2004

Rubens Barrichello, driving for Ferrari in 2004, won the inaugural Chinese Grand Prix in a race that saw plenty of high-quality racing.

Rubens Barrichello (C) celebrates winning the Chinese GP in 2004. (Image: Twitter)
By Shayne Dias | Sep 26, 2021 | 3 Min Read follow icon Follow Us

When Rubens Barrichello was a Ferrari driver, it was never in doubt that he was indeed their ‘number 2’ driver. Formula 1 as a whole has a massive history of teams favouring one driver over the other. Ferrari, as the only team to have raced in every world championship since 1950, favour this tradition more than most. During Barrichello’s time at the team, he mostly played second fiddle to Michael Schumacher. However, being a good teammate in the best car on the grid has its own benefits. You get to regularly compete for podiums and even take home the occasional race win.

This is exactly what happened in the 2004 Chinese Grand Prix, which was the first edition of the race. With 17 years having passed since that day, let us take a little trip down memory lane.

The background

To say 2004 was a dominant year for Ferrari would be something of an understatement. The final year of their five-year run of winning the world championships saw them seal the title before the end of August.

As such, the team were a lot more relaxed over the situation with their two drivers. Barrichello reaped the rewards with a maiden win at the Italian GP earlier that season.

However, the Chinese circuit was an unknown entity given it was a brand-new grid. As such, the winner wouldn’t necessarily be the driver who was fastest but also the one who mastered the circuit the quickest.

To make things more interesting for the drivers and non-Ferrari fans, Schumacher changed his engine and thus started the race from the pit lane.

It would be Barrichello who took pole position, with the McLaren-Mercedes of Kimi Raikkonen in second place. Jenson Button, who would finish the season third in the standings, took third in his BAR-Honda.

Felipe Massa, Barrichello’s compatriot and the man who would eventually take his Ferrari seat, started fourth. With Schumacher out of the front grid, fans were in for a promising bit of action.

Rubens Barrichello makes history

At the start of the race, Barrichello and Raikkonen made more or less equal starts and thus the Brazillian held off the Finn in the first corner.

However, Button made a poor start and was immediately jumped by both Massa and Fernando Alonso. Alonso would get his Renault past Massa too, taking him to third place.

Raikkonen stayed on the tail of Barrichello as the Ferrari #2 found it difficult to build a lead in the initial few laps. Button, meanwhile, found some pace and stormed past both Massa and Alonso to get into third.

Schumacher, meanwhile, was having little joy. He started from the back and, with a car filled to capacity as Ferrari looked to change strategies, struggled to get past the back-markers.

He stayed stuck behind Christian Klein’s Jaguar for several laps, before a crash between the two saw Klein retire. Schumacher then spun and saw himself drop back again as a result.

The first round of pit-stops saw no change in driver order. Barrichello and Raikkonen pitted on the same lap, with Button pitting two laps later. The three took up their positions afterwards with no change of position.

However, Button dropped off a bit on pace thereafter. While Raikkonen and Barrichello battled it out for the lead on three-stop strategies, Button would adopt a two-stop strategy.

This would eventually help him pass Raikkonen in the closing stages of the race. However, even then the race was not an easy one for Barrichello to win. He had both Button and Raikkonen on his tail.

Eventually he managed to hold them both off and take the win, but it’s worth noting there was less than 1.5 seconds seperating the three drivers.

The aftermath

Few knew it at the time, but this would actually be the last race Rubens Barrichello would win with Ferrari. 2005 saw the team take only one win, the infamous US Grand Prix with only six drivers starting. Schumacher would take the top spot on the podium on that occasion.

As for Raikkonen and Button? Well, the Finn would win his one and only world championship in 2007 – driving for Ferrari, no less.

Button too would win a world title, driving for Brawn GP in what was a fairytale season for the ages in 2009.





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