page_title: 2004 United States Grand Prix
section_title: Race
hierarchical_section_title: 2004 United States Grand Prix / Report / Race
caption_attribution_description: English: Zsolt Baumgartner] in 2004 Formula 1 US GP, Indianapolis Italiano: Zsolt Baumgartner durante il Gran Premio di Formula 1 degli USA, Indianapolis, 2004
context_page_description: The 2004 United States Grand Prix, officially the XXXIII Foster's United States Grand Prix, was a Formula One motor race held on 20 June 2004 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Indiana. It was the ninth round of the 2004 Formula One season.
  Rubens Barrichello started from pole position in his Ferrari ahead of teammate Michael Schumacher. However, following a start-line incident between five cars, four of whom retired as a result, Schumacher overtook Barrichello on the safety car restart on lap six, and despite a threat from Barrichello after the final pit stops, Schumacher held on to take his eighth win of the season. Takuma Sato became only the second Japanese driver to achieve a podium finish.
  The race saw two serious accidents caused by Michelin tire failures in what would be a precedent for the 2005 United States Grand Prix, at which all Michelin-shod cars withdrew over safety concerns. First, Fernando Alonso's Renault crashed into the barriers alongside the end of the pit straight on lap nine. Later, Ralf Schumacher's Williams suffered the same fate, but in the most dangerous part of the track, causing him to hit the wall at a ninety-degree angle rearwards.
context_section_description: As the formation lap began, Juan Pablo Montoya's Williams failed to start. Montoya jumped out of the car and ran to the pits to use the spare car; it was set up for him as he was higher up on the grid than his teammate. Montoya started the race from the pit lane.
  Rubens Barrichello led into the first corner from pole position. Michael Schumacher retained second place. Fernando Alonso started in ninth place on the grid, but went around the outside of the similarly fast-starting Kimi Räikkönen in the McLaren, and then used the inside line at turn two to pass Takuma Sato and move into third place. Jenson Button dropped from fourth to sixth, whilst Ralf Schumacher dropped to seventh. Jarno Trulli moved up to eleventh place, having started last, partially helped by a big crash in turn two. A gear selection issue for Cristiano da Matta meant that he lost momentum, and an unsighted Christian Klien ploughed into the back of him and speared across the track, hitting Giorgio Pantano's Jordan and Felipe Massa's Sauber. Nick Heidfeld in the other Jordan attempted to avoid the chaos, and squeezed Gianmaria Bruni's Minardi onto the kerb, terminally damaging the suspension of the Minardi. The safety car was deployed, and remained out until the end of lap five.
  As the safety car came in, Michael Schumacher overtook Barrichello for the lead of the race. On lap nine, Fernando Alonso, in a Michelin-shod Renault, crashed out from third place at the end of the main straight after his right rear tire deflated under braking. He lost control of the car and it crashed nose-first into the barriers along the track, destroying the front end of the Renault and some polystyrene boards at turn one. Double yellow flags were deployed, meaning the drivers were not allowed to overtake in that zone. At the end of lap ten, the Williams of Ralf Schumacher, also on Michelin tires, suffered a tire failure in turn thirteen, the only banked corner at the time in Formula One, backing the car into the wall at a ninety-degree angle. The car skidded several hundred metres down the race track before coming to rest. Schumacher sat motionless in the car for two minutes, unable to talk to his team over the radio, as the radio had been smashed in the incident. The safety car was deployed, and so many people opted to make an early pit stop. Michael Schumacher pitted, as did his teammate Barrichello, but Barrichello had to queue behind Schumacher, and also struggled to get going from the stop, costing him track position to Kimi Räikkönen, who also pitted. As he left the pit lane, David Coulthard ran over a piece of debris from Alonso's Renault. Michael Schumacher now led the race from Takuma Sato, Jenson Button, and Juan Pablo Montoya, none of whom had made a pit stop. Kimi Räikkönen was now fifth, ahead of Barrichello in sixth, Trulli in seventh place, and Olivier Panis in the last points position in eighth.
  The safety car pulled in at the end of lap nineteen, and as the BARs had not stopped, they were pressuring Michael Schumacher's much heavier Ferrari: the top three were within two seconds of each other for a long period of time. Takuma Sato was very quick through the first and second sectors of the lap, but Michael Schumacher's Ferrari had good traction out of turn eleven, the only overtaking opportunity, and so Sato was unable to pass. On lap 24, Button was the first BAR to make a pit stop. Button's arrival in his pit box was messy, causing him to lose a couple of seconds whilst his mechanics readjusted their positions. Sato pitted one lap later, and had a clean stop, rejoining in eleventh place, just in front of Button in twelfth. Sato had good traction, however, out of turn seven on his out lap, and overtook Mark Webber's Jaguar to move up to tenth. On the same lap, he overtook David Coulthard through turn thirteen, finishing off the move into turn one on lap twenty seven. Mark Webber ran wide at turn one, gifting a place to Button. However, BAR's reliability problems continued: Button retired at the end of lap twenty seven with a gearbox issue. On lap 29, Sato rep
caption: Zsolt Baumgartner became the first Hungarian driver in Formula One to score a point.
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