The Unforgettable 2004 Formula 1 Season with the Ferrari F2004

Step back in time to one of the most memorable seasons in Formula 1 history, when the Ferrari F2004 reigned supreme. This iconic car, driven by the legendary Michael Schumacher, won an astounding 12 out of the first 13 races, a testament to its unparalleled performance and dominance on the track.

The Revelation of the F2004 at Imola

Andrea Stella, McLaren team principal during that era, shares his personal connection with the legendary Imola circuit. As Schumacher’s performance engineer at the time, he was present for the unveiling of the F2004 during an open test at Imola. The car’s exceptional lap times and consistency left a lasting impression on everyone at Ferrari.

Stella recalls, “I also have quite a lot of passion for Formula 1, and Imola resonates with this passion. At the time [the mid-2000s], we could still take two cars of different seasons to the same track. One was driven by Michael Schumacher, and one by Rubens Barrichello. We realized that we had a super car in hand for 2004 because the lap times and consistency of that car were great. So, a lot is attached to this circuit, definitely from me.

The F2004’s success was not without its setbacks. Schumacher lost one race due to a clumsy DNF in Monaco, where he collided with Juan Pablo Montoya under the tunnel while Montoya was actually a lap down during a safety car. Had it not been for this incident, Ferrari might have won 13 out of 13 races that season.

The Turning Point for Ferrari

The legend of the F2004 continues to this day. When an example of the car comes up for sale, it fetches an eye-watering price. In 2004, Sotheby’s sold a chassis driven by Schumacher to five victories for $3.2 million. Even four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel expressed interest in purchasing one at auction, but the price was beyond his reach.

The F2004 arrived at a pivotal moment for Ferrari, as it faced stiff competition from ‘Team Enstone’ (formerly Benetton, recently acquired by Renault) and a McLaren-Mercedes partnership whose progress in 2003 had been hampered by technical issues. The team had been too conservative the previous season, and a significant leap forward was required.

Ferrari poured enormous resources into aerodynamics, finite stress analysis, and suspension kinematics to better exploit their relationship with tyre supplier Bridgestone. After a shakedown test at ‘s home track, Fiorano, the F2004 was taken to Imola for a back-to-back evaluation with the previous season’s F2003-GA.

The comparison astounded everyone at Ferrari. “I remember at the first shakedown we were doing lap times that didn’t match our simulations,” chief race engineer Luca Baldisserri told Autosport in 2018. “In those times they were not so sophisticated simulations.“But considering the ambient temperature, we were completely off, but in a good way! Everybody was saying we had to check that everything was OK, and that we were on the weight limit.

The Imola test provided further evidence of the car’s speed, but Ferrari still couldn’t quite believe it. “It was mega,” Rob Smedley, chief test engineer at the time, told Autosport. “We had the 2003 car, and then Michael jumped into the F2004.“He got out of the car and he had this massive smile, and he said, ‘I’m telling you it’s real.’ And we were saying, ‘It can’t be, we know what the aero numbers are, we know what the engine is, there’s absolutely no way.’

Afterwards, they spent about 12 hours poring over every element of the data, wondering if they had made a mistake. But they couldn’t find it. The F2004 was two seconds a lap quicker than the 2003 car, and the difference grew as the stints progressed. They were left wondering how they would top this performance in the upcoming season.

This is the spirit Andrea Stella is now trying to channel at McLaren, as he works towards replicating the success of the Ferrari F2004 and other legendary Formula 1 cars.