After three years of absence, Formula 1 is about to return to the Shanghai International Circuit to revive the Chinese Grand Prix for the first time since 2019. Conveniently, this year happens to mark the 20th anniversary of the first Chinese Grand Prix, which took place on Sept. 26, 2004.
At the time of the 2004 F1 season, the landscape of the sport looked very different. The season was 18-rounds-long, Australia hosted the season opener with Brazil hosting the finale, two tire manufacturers were vying for preeminence in the series, and the grid included two Schumachers, one Juan Pablo Montoya and, of course, Fernando Alonso.
Perhaps most importantly, 2004 marked one of F1’s largest endeavors in geographical expansion. The traditionally European-focused series added not only the Chinese Grand Prix to the calendar, but ventured to the newly-opened Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Bahrain, which remains on the calendar 20 years later.
In a season where Michael Schumacher had been absolutely dominant, winning 12 of 15 races to that point, balance was brought to affairs in Shanghai when the German was forced to start from the pit lane after the team opted to swap his engine shortly following a spin which eliminated Schumacher from qualifying. Schumacher’s pit lane start meant he rolled off 20th, dead last. The worst starting position of his career to that point.
This left Ferrari bookending the field after Rubens Barrichello placed his F2004 on pole ahead of Kimi Raikkonen and Jenson Button. Barrichello had won the previous race at Monza, bring his total victories to eight. Raikkonen, meanwhile, was still three years away from taking his only F1 title with Ferrari in 2007, and third-place-starter Button was still searching for his first win; the Briton’s 2009 title with Brawn GP wasn’t even on the horizon yet.
Also floating around the sport in 2004 was the spectre of a tire war between Bridgestone and Michellin. To this point, Michellin seemed to be gradually winning control of the series with only Ferrari, Sauber, Jordan and Minardi using Bridgestone rubber. However, this cold war of tires had yet to rear its ugly head in full – that would come the next year at the now-infamous 2005 United States Grand Prix.
Barrichello led the field off the line for the 56-lap race, while Alonso used a blistering start to jump from sixth on the grid into third place by the end of turn 1. Riakkonen kept Barrichello in…
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