The F2004 won 15 of 18 races, scored 12 pole positions, and took Michael Schumacher's seventh and final Drivers' Championship — a record at the time — while delivering Ferrari's sixth consecutive Constructors' Championship. The car retired from only two races, both through collisions.
The F2004 followed the design principles first established by the F2002 but refined them further. Compared with the F2003-GA, the periscope exhausts were smaller and repositioned closer to the car's centre line; the rear wing was enlarged; and the rear suspension was redesigned to address the high tyre wear that had been a significant problem for its predecessor. The wheelbase was shortened and rear-end aerodynamics improved overall.
For 2004, FIA regulations required engines to last a full race weekend. This necessitated a redesigned, more resilient gearbox. Regulations also banned launch control and fully-automatic gearboxes — aids Ferrari had used since the 2001 Spanish Grand Prix — meaning drivers had to manage the clutch bite point manually and use paddle-shifters again.
The F2004 was first unveiled on 26 January 2004. On 30 January, during testing at Fiorano, Schumacher drove 115 laps and recorded a time of 56 seconds — a track record. Team principal Jean Todt questioned the result; Brawn confirmed the car was fully compliant with regulations.
The F2004 won 15 of 18 races, with Schumacher winning 13 including seven in succession — a single-season record that was equalled by Sebastian Vettel with the Red Bull RB9 in 2013 and surpassed only when Max Verstappen won 15 races with the Red Bull RB18 in 2022.
Motorsports journalist Dieter Rencken, writing for Autosport, cited the F2004 in 2014 as "the fastest car in F1 history". The car set lap records at Albert Park, Nürburgring, Gilles Villeneuve, Magny-Cours, Hungaroring, Monza, and Shanghai. As of 2025, the lap records at the old Albert Park configuration, Magny-Cours, and Shanghai remain standing. Monza's fastest qualifying and race laps were only beaten by the Mercedes W11 in 2020 and the McLaren MCL39 in 2025.
The F2004 debuted with a 1–2 at the 2004 Australian Grand Prix. A notable victory came at the French Grand Prix, where Schumacher used an innovative four-stop strategy to beat Fernando Alonso's Renault R24B.
A revised version, the F2004M, was used for the opening two races of 2005. It achieved a podium at the 2005 Australian Grand Prix and scored 10 championship points before being retired in favour of the F2005 at the Bahrain Grand Prix. In total, including the F2004M's 2005 points, the F2004 scored 272 championship points across its career.
The 2004 season marked the end of Ferrari's Constructors' Championship winning streak that had begun in 1999. Rory Byrne expressed belief that the F2005 would surpass the F2004 and be the best ever Ferrari Formula One car; in practice the F2005 season proved disappointing, with only a single win at the controversial 2005 United States Grand Prix. The FIA had introduced a rule change for 2005 banning pit stops for tyre changes and requiring a single set of tyres to last an entire race, an intervention attributed in part to a desire to curb the F2004-era dominance.
The livery was broadly similar to the previous season's car and retained sponsors including Vodafone and Olympus Corporation. Marlboro logos were carried in most races but were absent at the Canadian, French, British, and United States Grands Prix in compliance with local anti-tobacco legislation. At the Belgian Grand Prix, Ferrari celebrated their 700th Grand Prix with a commemorative logo displayed behind the seat and on the sidepods.
The F2004 was used as the basis for the 2008 "Powered by Ferrari" A1 Grand Prix car. That chassis was a bespoke design by John Travis with styling and aerodynamics inspired by the F2004, powered by a Ferrari F136 F V8 engine producing 650 bhp. It was developed and tested over more than 5,600 km at circuits including Mugello, Fiorano, Silverstone, and Magny-Cours, with Andrea Bertolini as the main test driver. The car was used only for the 2008–2009 A1GP season before the series was cancelled.
Mick Schumacher drove the F2004 at the 2019 German Grand Prix to honour the 15th anniversary of his father's final world championship. He also drove it at Mugello before the start of the 2020 Tuscan Grand Prix to celebrate Ferrari's 1000th Grand Prix.
The F2004 appeared in the Formula One 04 video game, and alongside the F2007, featured in the F1 2017, F1 2018, F1 2019, and F1 2020 games by Codemasters. It was also included in Assetto Corsa as part of the Ferrari 70th Anniversary Pack. In 2026, LEGO released a set featuring the F2004 with a minifigure of Michael Schumacher.
This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.
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