Ferrari's F2004, designed by Rory Byrne and Ross Brawn with a Paolo Martinelli V10, is arguably the most dominant Formula One car of the post-war era. Michael Schumacher won 13 of the first 18 races — including the first five in a row — to claim his seventh and final World Championship. He finished the year on 148 points; teammate Rubens Barrichello was second on 114; no other driver broke 100.

A Near-Total Sweep

Schumacher's 13 victories remains a shared record (Vettel equalled it in 2013). He won the Australian opener, Malaysia, Bahrain, Imola, Spain, Europe (Nürburgring), Canada, the United States, France, Britain, Germany, Hungary and Japan. Rubens Barrichello took Monza and China — the Monza win his home-race triumph as a Brazilian racing for the Italian team — while Juan Pablo Montoya won the Brazilian finale at Interlagos, his final Williams victory before moving to McLaren. Ferrari took the constructors' crown with 262 points to BAR-Honda's 119; the Italians clinched by round 16.

Raikkonen, Alonso and a Changing of the Guard

Kimi Räikkönen's McLaren-Mercedes MP4-19 was a disaster; the B version arrived mid-year and at Spa he won — the only non-Ferrari race victory of the season. Jenson Button gave BAR-Honda 10 podiums but no victory, a source of frustration that would define his next two years. Fernando Alonso's Renault R24 was competitive without winning, setting the stage for his 2005 assault. Trulli won Monaco for Renault before being dropped mid-season for Villeneuve.

The End of the Schumacher Era

No one knew it at the time, but 2004 was the last of Schumacher's seven titles. The 2005 regulation package (one set of tyres per race, aero cuts) was written specifically to break Ferrari's dominance, and it worked. Schumacher's form would never fully return. The F2004 is the car most often cited when historians rank the greatest Formula One machines; its debut configuration — used through the first five wins — was so quick that Ferrari deliberately left the 2003 car at some early races to sandbag for development reasons. A new era of two-title-hunters (Alonso and then Hamilton) was already assembling.

Race Calendar

Rnd	Grand Prix	Circuit	Date	Winner
01	Australian GP Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit	Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit	7 Mar 2004	SchumacherFerrari
02	Malaysian GP Sepang International Circuit	Sepang International Circuit	21 Mar 2004	SchumacherFerrari
03	Bahrain GP Bahrain International Circuit	Bahrain International Circuit	4 Apr 2004	SchumacherFerrari
04	San Marino GP Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari	Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari	25 Apr 2004	SchumacherFerrari
05	Spanish GP Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya	Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya	9 May 2004	SchumacherFerrari
06	Monaco GP Circuit de Monaco	Circuit de Monaco	23 May 2004	TrulliRenault
07	European GP Nürburgring	Nürburgring	30 May 2004	SchumacherFerrari
08	Canadian GP Circuit Gilles Villeneuve	Circuit Gilles Villeneuve	13 Jun 2004	SchumacherFerrari
09	United States GP Indianapolis Motor Speedway	Indianapolis Motor Speedway	20 Jun 2004	SchumacherFerrari
10	French GP Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours	Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours	4 Jul 2004	SchumacherFerrari
11	British GP Silverstone Circuit	Silverstone Circuit	11 Jul 2004	SchumacherFerrari
12	German GP Hockenheimring	Hockenheimring	25 Jul 2004	SchumacherFerrari
13	Hungarian GP Hungaroring	Hungaroring	15 Aug 2004	SchumacherFerrari
14	Belgian GP Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps	29 Aug 2004	RäikkönenMcLaren
15	Italian GP Autodromo Nazionale di Monza	Autodromo Nazionale di Monza	12 Sept 2004	BarrichelloFerrari
16	Chinese GP Shanghai International Circuit	Shanghai International Circuit	26 Sept 2004	BarrichelloFerrari
17	Japanese GP Suzuka Circuit	Suzuka Circuit	10 Oct 2004	SchumacherFerrari
18	Brazilian GP Autódromo José Carlos Pace	Autódromo José Carlos Pace	24 Oct 2004	MontoyaWilliams

P	Driver	Pts	W
	Michael Schumacher	148	13
2	Rubens Barrichello	114	2
3	Jenson Button	85	0
4	Fernando Alonso	59	0
5	Juan Pablo Montoya	58	1
6	Jarno Trulli	46	1
7	Kimi Räikkönen	45	1
8	Takuma Sato	34	0
9	Ralf Schumacher	24	0
10	David Coulthard	24	0
11	Giancarlo Fisichella	22	0
12	Felipe Massa	12	0
13	Mark Webber	7	0
14	Olivier Panis	6	0
15	Antônio Pizzonia	6	0
16	Christian Klien	3	0
17	Cristiano da Matta	3	0
18	Nick Heidfeld	3	0
19	Timo Glock	2	0
20	Zsolt Baumgartner	1	0

Data via Jolpica/Ergast · Telemetry not available