SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium, 30 August 2004 — Michael Schumacher won his seventh world title when he finished second in the Belgian Grand Prix here yesterday as McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen raced to victory.
Schumacher’s run of seven straight victories this season for Ferrari was halted by Finn Raikkonen, whose assured drive saw him claim his second career win and sealed McLaren’s first victory of the season.
German Schumacher failed to win for only the second time this season but his eight-point haul secured the title with four races left after teammate and sole challenger Rubens Barrichello finished third.
The result leaves Schumacher with a 40-point lead over Barrichello but the Brazilian cannot now win the title due to Schumacher’s unassailable 12 race victories this season.
But the day belonged to Raikkonen after he avoided the carnage created by eight retirements and three safety car periods to claim his first victory since Malaysia in 2003 after starting from tenth place.
Behind the top three, Sauber saw Brazilian Felipe Massa and Italian Giancarlo Fisichella claim fourth and fifth while Jaguar’s Christian Klien, of Austria, claimed his first-ever Formula One points in sixth.
McLaren’s David Coulthard claimed seventh despite a tire blow-out during an eventful race and Toyota’s Olivier Panis claimed the final point in eighth.
A dramatic start to the race saw Renault pole sitter Jarno Trulli take the lead with Fernando Alonso racing past Schumacher from third and Coulthard pushing the German down to fourth at the first corner.
Further down the field a collision between Jaguar’s Mark Webber and BAR’s Takuma Sato saw Webber lose his front wing and Sato his rear and both spun into retirement.
The chaos caused Minardi’s Zsolt Baumgartner, of Hungary, to nudge Italian teammate Gianmaria Bruni into a spin and Italian Jordan driver Giorgio Pantano collided with the Minardi to put both into retirement.
The first corner incident saw the safety car deployed and Barrichello was forced to visit the pits to have his rear wing replaced, ultimately rejoining the race a lap down.
When the safety car pulled in at the end of lap five Raikkonen overtook Schumacher to take fourth and, one lap later, Williams driver Juan Pablo Montoya passed the German with a spectacular move at the Bus Stop chicane.
Raikkonen took third from his teammate Coulthard mid-way through lap six of the 44-lap race as the Renaults of Trulli and Alonso pulled out a 1.8 seconds lead over the McLaren pair.
