Background
Heading into the 14th race of the season, Michael Schumacher, driving for the Ferrari team, was leading the Drivers' Championship by 38 points from teammate Rubens Barrichello. Jenson Button, driving for BAR, was in third place, but only Schumacher and Barrichello could mathematically win the championship. Ferrari had sealed the Constructors' Championship at the previous race,[3] but the battle for second in the Championship, between Renault and BAR, was still fierce.
However, the biggest story was the controversy surrounding Button's drive for 2005. Ten days before the Hungarian Grand Prix, Button chose to leave BAR and signed a two-year contract to return to Williams.[4] This was surprising, as Button was enjoying his best season to date, while Williams had been struggling.[5] BAR, however, insisted they had the right to exercise their option to keep Button. Button's management argued that the BAR option was not valid because it contained a clause allowing him to leave if BAR risked losing their Honda engines. They felt the new contract signed in the summer for Honda to supply engines to BAR was not definitive, and thus Button was free to move.[5][6]
With regard to the Spa circuit itself, the race did not take place in 2003 so that modifications to the Bus Stop chicane could be completed. Pundits were very critical of the changes to the chicane: namely, a sweeping right-hand bend has been introduced just before it. This left a huge piece of green-coloured tarmac, causing Martin Brundle to be very scathing of it during qualifying, stating "you could hold an entire kart meeting in there, including transporters and trucks!"[7][8]
Race
Trulli's Renault had a good start from pole position, but second-placed Schumacher's Ferrari did not, and he lost positions to Fernando Alonso's Renault and David Coulthard's McLaren. At La Source, Mark Webber's Jaguar collided with Barrichello's Ferrari, causing Webber to lose his front wing and Barrichello to suffer rear wing damage. In a separate incident, Räikkönen's McLaren made contact with Felipe Massa's Sauber, which caused Massa to lose his front wing. In a third incident, Nick Heidfeld's Jordan and Olivier Panis's Toyota made contact. Going into Eau Rouge, Webber was side-by-side with Takuma Sato's BAR, and they collided in the middle of the corner whilst they were overtaken by Montoya's Williams. The contact broke Sato's left rear suspension and Webber's front right suspension. Sato consequently spun in the middle of the track. The rest of the field attempted to avoid the spinning BAR, but in doing so, Zsolt Baumgartner and Gianmaria Bruni, both driving for Minardi, made contact, putting Bruni out of the race and getting him hit by Giorgio Pantano's Jordan. Sato, Webber, Bruni, and Pantano were out of the race. A small fire on Bruni's car, caused by the contact with Pantano, forced the safety car to come out. During this time, Button, Massa, Barrichello, Heidfeld, Baumgartner, and Olivier Panis stopped for repairs caused by debris. Massa and Barrichello stopped twice.
The safety car came in at the end of lap four and Trulli led Alonso and Coulthard. Räikkönen overtook Schumacher for fifth position and Button overtook Ricardo Zonta's Toyota. Schumacher continued to be slow, losing 1.1 seconds to Räikkönen in the middle sector on lap five, enabling Montoya to overtake him around the outside of the Bus Stop chicane on lap five. On lap six, Räikkönen overtook his teammate, Coulthard, for third, going up the inside at the Les Combes chicane. On lap eight, Barrichello overtook Baumgartner and Heidfeld, putting him into 14th place. Christian Klien, in the sole remaining Jaguar, was the first driver to make a scheduled pit stop, on lap nine, and race leader Trulli made a pit stop on lap 10, rejoining in ninth place. Alonso now led the race, but on lap 12 he had an oil leak and spun twice at Les Combes, losing the lead to Räikkönen. He managed to rejoin, but he then had a further spin at Rivage for the same reason and could not rejoin. On the same lap Coulthard had a rear tyre de-lamination, but he made it back to pit lane. Räikkönen stopped at the end of lap 13. Montoya now led the race from Schumacher, until Montoya pitted on lap 15. Montoya left the pit lane behind Massa, losing time while overtaking him. Schumacher pitted one lap later and leapfrogged Montoya. New leader Pizzonia came into the pits on lap 17. Räikkönen now led from Button in second, Trulli in third, and Schumacher in fourth, but Schumacher was able to overcome Trulli on lap 19.
Giancarlo Fisichella's Sauber ran wide on lap 20 and lost parts of his front wing. On the same lap, Montoya attempted to repeat his earlier overtake on Trulli, but the pair collided, putting Trulli into a spin. Trulli lost several places, and Montoya lost fourth place to his teammate, Pizzonia. Button pitted on lap 21, rejoining in seventh, behind the battling Fischella and Barrichello. Barrichello then took fifth place on lap 22, as Trulli made a second pit stop, having been passed by Panis. Button was also able to pass Fisichella for sixth position on lap 23, as Barrichello pitted. Räikkönen pitted on lap 29, rejoining in second position, while Schumacher still had to stop. Montoya pitted on the same lap as Räikkönen. On lap 31, Button suffered a right rear tyre de-lamination similar to Coulthard's, at approximately 205 mph (330 km/h),[15] pitching him into a spin. As a result, he crashed into the Minardi of Baumgartner, who was being lapped, putting both drivers out of the race and bringing out a safety car. Schumacher, Pizzonia, and Heidfeld took the opportunity to pit behind the safety car.
Still behind the safety car, on lap 32, Pizzonia retired due to a gearbox problem. Räikkönen led the race from Schumacher, Montoya, Barrichello, and Zonta, who started last. At the restart on lap 34, Klien overtook Panis for eighth place and one point, as Coulthard overtook Trulli for tenth place. One lap later, Coulthard overtook Panis for ninth. On lap 36, Montoya's rear right tyre de-laminated, forcing him to retire.
On lap 38, Coulthard attempted to overtake Klien for seventh place, but contact between the two drivers meant Coulthard needed a new front wing after it broke loose, with parts of it becoming stuck in the rear of the McLaren's bodywork. The resulting debris caused the safety car to come out again. The safety car came in at the end of lap 41, but just four corners later, fourth-placed Zonta's engine blew up spectacularly, putting him out of the race. On the penultimate lap, Coulthard overtook Panis for seventh.
Räikkönen won the race, his first and only victory of 2004. Schumacher finished second, with teammate Barrichello third. The result gave Schumacher his seventh and last World Drivers' Championship.
