KUALA LUMPUR, 22 March 2004 — World champion Michael Schumacher continued his ruthless domination of Formula One as he claimed his second win of the season and the 72nd of his career in yesterday’s Malaysian Grand Prix.
Ferrari’s Schumacher, who won the season-opening Australian Grand Prix two weeks ago, made the perfect start and was never seriously troubled as he led home Williams driver Juan Pablo Montoya.
The six-time world champion came home five seconds clear of Montoya in the 56-lap race to maintain his 100 percent start to the season and claim his third win at Sepang and his first in Malaysia since 2001.
“When we needed to be quick we were, but at the beginning of the race it was tough,” Schumacher said afterward.
“It was unpredictable where the water was on the track and I had to be cautious. “It was a tough fight until the end. It was pressure all the way and Malaysia is a tough circuit. It would have been even harder having the sunshine.”
Schumacher is now seven points clear of teammate Rubens Barrichello in the standings but he expects a close fight throughout the season. Montoya made a flying start and benefited from a mistake by Ferrari’s Rubens Barrichello to claim the runners-up spot, while Button was left in ecstasy after finishing in third. BAR driver Button, who had finished fourth on five occasions, finally stood on the podium after an impressive drive to finish ahead of Barrichello.
Renault’s Jarno Trulli won a battle with David Coulthard, of McLaren, for fifth place while Fernando Alonso, who started from the back of the grid, scored points in seventh with Sauber’s Felipe Massa eighth.
Mark Webber, who had started second on the grid, endured a nightmare race and spun out while championship hopefuls Kimi Raikkonen and Ralf Schumacher retired because of mechanical problems.
With the circuit damp after the arrival of rain, Raikkonen spun on the formation lap while Jordan’s Giorgio Pantano started from the pit-lane after changing an engine.
At the start, Schumacher got away perfectly but Webber struggled to get off the line to leave Barrichello in second place.
Webber dropped to ninth by the end of the first lap, while from the back of the grid Alonso made up ground to run in 10th place.
But Barrichello outbraked himself on lap two and dropped to fourth place as Montoya and Raikkonen both moved ahead of him.
Webber, attempting to recover from his slow start, touched with Ralf Schumacher and the Jaguar driver was left with a puncture and forced to pit before being hit with stop-go penalty for speeding in the pit-lane.
Takuma Sato, who had moved up to 11th from the back row of the grid, spun on lap six but recovered to get out of the gravel trap at turn eight.
Schumacher pitted from the lead after nine laps, while Barrichello lost two places behind Trulli and Button after the frontrunners had all made their first stops.
Webber’s woes deepened when he spun out of the race on lap 26 after locking his wheels heading into the final corner.
Schumacher was forced out of the race after 28 laps when his BMW engine blew and he parked the car at the side of the track.
Jordan’s Nick Heidfeld joined the list of retirements after 37 laps when he pitted for a fourth time and his ill-sounding car was wheeled into the garage.
