The F2004 is a highly successful Formula One racing car that was used by
Ferrari
Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...
for the
2004 Formula One season
The 2004 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 58th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It was the 55th FIA Formula One World Championship, and was contested over eighteen races from 7 March to 24 October 2004.
The championship was d ...
. The chassis was designed by
Rory Byrne
Rory Byrne (born 10 January 1944) is a South African semi-retired engineer and car designer, most famous for being the chief designer at the Benetton and Scuderia Ferrari Formula One teams.
Byrne-designed cars have won ninety-nine Grands Pri ...
,
Ignazio Lunetta,
Aldo Costa
Aldo Costa (born 5 June 1961) is an Italian engineer and the Chief Technical Officer at Dallara. With eleven Constructors' Championships, Costa is considered one of the most successful engineers and designers in the category.
Costa was born in Pa ...
,
Marco Fainello,
John Iley
John Alastair Iley (born 29 September 1967) is a British motor racing aerodynamicist, who was formerly the technical director for the Caterham F1 team.
After graduating from Lanchester Polytechnic, Coventry, while studying at Imperial College, ...
and
James Allison with
Ross Brawn
Ross James Brawn (born 23 November 1954) is a British Formula One managing director, motor sports and technical director.
He is a former motorsport engineer and Formula One team principal, and has worked for a number of Formula One teams. Serv ...
playing a vital role in leading the production of the car as the team's Technical Director and
Paolo Martinelli assisted by
Giles Simon leading the engine design and operations.
Heavily based on the previous season's
F2003-GA
The Ferrari F2003-GA was a highly successful car used by Scuderia Ferrari in the 2003 Formula One World Championship. The chassis was designed by Rory Byrne, Ignazio Lunetta, Aldo Costa, Marco Fainello, Nikolas Tombazis and James Allison wit ...
,
the F2004 continued the run of success the team had enjoyed since 1999, winning the team's 6th straight Constructors' Championship and 5th straight Drivers' Championship for
Michael Schumacher
Michael Schumacher (; ; born 3 January 1969) is a German former racing driver who competed in Formula One for Jordan, Benetton, Ferrari, and Mercedes. Schumacher has a joint-record seven World Drivers' Championship titles (tied with Lewis ...
, his 7th, and final, world drivers' title in 2004. It is one of the most dominant cars in the history of Formula One. The car also brought a close to Ferrari's and Michael Schumacher's five-year domination of the sport, leaving the door open for
Renault
Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English; legally Renault S.A.) is a French multinational automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company produces a range of cars and vans, and in the past has manufactured ...
and
Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso Díaz (; born 29 July 1981) is a Spanish racing driver currently competing for Alpine in Formula One. He won the series' World Drivers' Championship in and with Renault, and has also driven for McLaren, Ferrari, and Mi ...
.
Ferrari used 'Marlboro' logos, except at the
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
,
French and
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
Grands Prix.
Design
The car was based on the same design principles pioneered in the
F2002 but taken a step further. The periscope exhausts were smaller and mounted closer to the car's centre line, the rear wing was enlarged and the rear suspension redesigned to reduce tyre wear, a major problem in the
F2003-GA
The Ferrari F2003-GA was a highly successful car used by Scuderia Ferrari in the 2003 Formula One World Championship. The chassis was designed by Rory Byrne, Ignazio Lunetta, Aldo Costa, Marco Fainello, Nikolas Tombazis and James Allison wit ...
. The engine was designed to last a full weekend in accordance with the FIA's technical regulations for the season. As a result, the gearbox also had to be redesigned to be more resilient. The rear end aerodynamics were improved and the car featured a shorter wheelbase.
Launch control and
fully-automatic gearboxes were also banned for , meaning the driver had to start using the paddle-shifters, and find the effective bite point and release the clutch manually, again. These
electronic driver aids had been used by the team for the previous three seasons, since the
2001 Spanish Grand Prix
The 2001 Spanish Grand Prix (formally the XLIII Gran Premio Marlboro de Espana) was a Formula One motor race held on 29 April 2001 at the Circuit de Catalunya, Montmeló, Spain. It was the fifth round of the 2001 Formula One season. The 65-lap r ...
.
Performance
The car was as successful as the equally dominant F2002, winning 15 out of 18 races, and scoring 12 pole positions including many lap records.
Michael Schumacher
Michael Schumacher (; ; born 3 January 1969) is a German former racing driver who competed in Formula One for Jordan, Benetton, Ferrari, and Mercedes. Schumacher has a joint-record seven World Drivers' Championship titles (tied with Lewis ...
won 13 races, setting a single-season record (
Sebastian Vettel
Sebastian Vettel (; born 3 July 1987) is a German racing driver who competed in Formula One from 2007 to 2022 for BMW Sauber, Scuderia Toro Rosso, Toro Rosso, Red Bull Racing, Red Bull, Scuderia Ferrari, Ferrari, and Aston Martin in Formula One ...
equaled this number in 2013) which lasted until
2022
File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...
when
Max Verstappen
Max Emilian Verstappen (; born 30 September 1997) is a Belgian-Dutch Auto racing, racing driver and the 2021 Formula One World Championship, 2021 and 2022 Formula One World Championship, 2022 Formula One World Champion. He Formula One drivers ...
won 15 races, and gained a record breaking seventh World Championship (since equaled by Lewis Hamilton in 2020), while Ferrari was a clear winner in the Constructors' Championship. The F2004 was also extremely reliable, retiring from just two races and both of these were via collisions. In France, Schumacher won, beating
Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso Díaz (; born 29 July 1981) is a Spanish racing driver currently competing for Alpine in Formula One. He won the series' World Drivers' Championship in and with Renault, and has also driven for McLaren, Ferrari, and Mi ...
's
Renault
Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English; legally Renault S.A.) is a French multinational automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company produces a range of cars and vans, and in the past has manufactured ...
after an innovative four stop pit strategy.
After the 2004 season the car was developed further as a testbed for 2005 and used in the first two races. Despite a podium finish in the
2005 Australian Grand Prix
5 (five) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number, and cardinal number, following 4 and preceding 6, and is a prime number. It has attained significance throughout history in part because typical humans have five digits on eac ...
, the car was retired to make way for its successor, the
F2005, at the
2005 Bahrain Grand Prix
The 2005 Bahrain Grand Prix (officially the 2005 Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 3 April 2005 at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Bahrain. The 57-lap race was the third round of the 2005 For ...
.
In all, the car scored 272 championship points in its career, but its championship in 2004 also marked the end of Ferrari's
Constructors' Championship winning streak, beginning with the
1999 Formula One season
The 1999 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 53rd season of Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) Formula One motor racing. It commenced on 7 March and ended on 31 October after sixteen races.
The Drivers' Championship w ...
.
The F2004 was used as the basis for the 2008 "Powered by Ferrari"
A1 Grand Prix car
The Lola A1GP was a vehicle designed to compete in the A1 Grand Prix. The car was standardised for every team to provide a level playing field for competing nations. It was designed to reduce the volume of "dirty air", allowing drivers to close ...
.
Legacy
The fastest race laps at
Magny-Cours
Magny-Cours () is a Communes of France, commune in the Nièvre Departments of France, department in central France.
It is the home of the ''Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours'', a famous Motorsport#Motor racing, motor racing circuit (whose name is of ...
,
Monza
Monza (, ; lmo, label=Lombard language, Lombard, Monça, locally ; lat, Modoetia) is a city and ''comune'' on the River Lambro, a tributary of the Po River, Po in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capit ...
and
Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
remain the current lap records, despite two out of these three tracks remaining on the F1 calendar through the
2019 season, showing the competitiveness of the F2004 against modern cars some fifteen years younger.
Michael Schumacher's son
Mick
Mick is a masculine given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of Michael. Because of its popularity in Ireland, it is often used in England as a derogatory term for an Irish person or a person of Irish descent. In Australia the meaning broade ...
drove the car at the
2019 German Grand Prix, honouring 15 years since his father's final world championship.
Mick Schumacher
Mick Schumacher (; born 22 March 1999) is a German racing driver who is the current reserve driver for the Mercedes-Benz in Formula One, Mercedes AMG Formula One Team.
Schumacher began his career in karting in 2008, progressing to the German ...
also drove the car around the track before the start of the
2020 Tuscan Grand Prix to celebrate Ferrari's 1000th Grand Prix.
Complete Formula One results
(
key
Key or The Key may refer to:
Common meanings
* Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm
* Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock
* Key (map ...
) (results in bold indicate pole position, results in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)
* 10 points scored with the F2004M
See also
*
Ferrari F2002
The Ferrari F2002 was a racing car used by Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro as its entry for competition in the 2002 Formula One season. The chassis was designed by Rory Byrne, Ignazio Lunetta, Aldo Costa, Marco Fainello, Nikolas Tombazis and James ...
*
Ferrari F2003-GA
The Ferrari F2003-GA was a highly successful car used by Scuderia Ferrari in the 2003 Formula One World Championship. The chassis was designed by Rory Byrne, Ignazio Lunetta, Aldo Costa, Marco Fainello, Nikolas Tombazis and James Allison wi ...
*
Ferrari F2005
The Ferrari F2005 is a Formula One racing car used by Ferrari for the 2005 Formula One World Championship. The chassis was designed by Rory Byrne, Ignazio Lunetta, Aldo Costa, Marco Fainello, John Iley and Marco de Luca with Ross Brawn playi ...
References
{{F1 cars 2005
F2004
2004 Formula One season cars
2005 Formula One season cars
Formula One championship-winning cars