MELBOURNE SUMMARY:



Race Summary: Melbourne		7th. March 2004

The Melbourne Grand Prix was the scene of David Coulthard's only first place of last season. Could he repeat his performance this year in the new McLaren?
DC would have been hoping so as he begins his last season with his current team. Juan Pablo Montoya is set to take DC's place along side Raikonnen in 2005.
DC lived up to last season's qualifying performance and started only twelfth n the grid, with Raikonnen doing equally poorly in tenth starting position. The 'New Boys' to Formula 1, Baumgartner, Pantano, Klien and Bruni, all started at the back of the pack.
The front row was the familiar red of Ferrari with Barrichello in second place behind Michael Schumacher on pole.
The first bend saw Alonso give a fine display of aggressive starting and immediately making ground from 5th. to 3rd. Montoya ran wide from 3rd. onto the grass and never really recovered throughout the rest of the race.
Raikonnen's hopes of a good start to the season were dashed when, on lap 9, he lost water pressure, his engine seized and he spunoff.
The Teams running on Michelin's were suffering due to the relatively cool track temperatures and struggling to keep up to the pace. Despite running a two stop strategy as opposed to the more popular 3 stop, DC could only manage 8th. place.
Montoya manage to recover some ground by lap 38 when he overtook Button in a minor lapse of concentration to achieve 5th. place.
Nick Heidfeld had a minor collision with one of his pit crew whilst pitting on lap 46 and retired.
Michael Schumacher, Barrichello and Alonso had fairly uneventful races at the head of the field taking the podium places in that order.

The final points placings were:
1. M Schumacher
2. Barrichello
3. Alonso
4. R Schumacher
5. Montoya
6. Button
7. Trulli
8. Coulthard

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