Bahrain GP - Second one-two of the season in the desert

Sakhir, 4th April - Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello scored their second one-two of the 2004 Grand Prix season in Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix. On the brand new circuit, the Ferrari pair dominated the 57 lap race, finishing 25 seconds ahead of the rest of the field. For the second race running, Jenson Button finished in third place and after three rounds, the World Championship order is the same as the finishing order in Bahrain. Sunday's weather provided a surprise: cloudy, relatively cool and even some rain. The track was quite slippery as the cars set off for the 57 lap race, and Michael Schumacher locked up his brakes and he dived down into the first corner to lead teammate Barrichello, Juan Pablo Montoya, then Takuma Sato from row three, and a poor starting Ralf Schumacher who held up Jenson Button. By the end of lap one, Michael had a 1.5s lead over Barrichello and would extend this to 5.3s over the next eight laps before his first pit stop on lap nine. The Brazilian, meanwhile, was slowly pulling away from third placed Montoya, although Barrichello would complain that his brakes didn’t heat up sufficiently in the early stages, preventing him from keeping teammate Schumacher in sight. Sato held onto fourth place, dropping behind Montoya, but coming under increasing pressure from Ralf Schumacher until lap seven when the pair collided at the second corner when Ralf thought he had overtaken the Japanese driver and attempted to cut across him. Ralf had to pit for a new nose section which relegated him to the back of the field, and Sato lost a place to Jarno Trulli. Michael was the first to pit for fuel and tyres on lap nine, but Barrichello, Montoya and Trulli came in on the next lap. Barrichello then had a problem with his right rear wheel and then chopped across Trulli as he rejoined the pit lane, for which Ferrari were later fined $10,000. Sato pitted on lap eleven and Button on lap 12. Back on the track, Michael’s lead had grown to 11s over Barrichello. The Brazilian’s lead over Montoya had dropped from 9.3s to 3.3s but in next stint, would rise to over 8.5s. Trulli, however, gradually reigned in the Williams driver, while Button caught teammate Sato who promptly went off the circuit on lap 17 and had to pit a lap later for a new nose section. Button then began to catch Trulli as well. The next round of pit stops came shortly before half distance and Michael lost a couple of seconds to Barrichello. The gap would dip further to 10s but then rise to 13s shortly before the final round of stops. Montoya was still in third place but his margin to fourth placed Trulli rose during the pit stops but they were still being caught by Button. Trulli would get to within 2.3s of Montoya before the final round of pit stops and Button would have a similar gap to Trulli. Button stopped two laps later than Trulli but the Italian had hit traffic on his out lap, and when Button stopped and he emerged from the pits in front of the Italian. Michael had again lost a couple of seconds in the final stop and the gap between the Ferraris would remain at 10s until the final moments of the race. Barrichello was only 11s ahead of Montoya but then the Colombian began to lose gears and steadily slipped back, overtaken by Button on lap 49, then Trulli a lap later, and finally the battling Sato and Fernando Alonso. So Michael Schumacher won his third Grand Prix in a row, just 1.3s ahead of teammate Barrichello at the chequered flag. Button was 25s behind from Trulli, then Sato and Alonso just 0.6s apart. Ralf Schumacher recovered to seventh place, while the final point went to Mark Webber. There were only three retirements, including both McLarens with engine problems and Zsolt Baumgartner with a similar problem.

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