| Race Summary: Sepang | 21st. March 2004 | |
| This weeks race from Sepang in Malaysia is generally the hottest of the season, and this
year is no different. 31 degrees in the shade but with light rain at the start. During this 56
lap endurance the drivers would expect to lose upto half a stone in weight through fluid loss.
Pantano began the race from the pits; a tactical move by his team allowing them to complete additional work on the Jordan before the start. Raikonnen almost failed to complete the warm up lap by spinning and almost stalling about half way around. Mark Webber performed brilliantly in qualifying to gain a second place on the grid, splitting the Ferraris. That, however, was to be the highlight of his weekend. The new manual start caught him out and an incredibly slow pull away owing to poor clutch contact saw the Australian overtaken by about twelve other cars in the first fifty metres. The exit of turn 10 was greasy from the light rain and caused Pantano to have a wake-up call as he spun but regained the track. Alonso started from 19th. after spinning in qualifying and needing a new engine. He put up a spirited fight from the off, quickly gaining tenth place in the first two laps. Barrichello found the race difficult throughout, having elected to use the harder Bridgestones. He was regularly lapping a good three or four seconds slower than his team mate, Michael Schumacher. On lap 5 Webber's day began to turn worse. A touch of vehicles with Ralf Schumacher on turn 2 saw him limp right around the track with a burst rear tyre. The resulting pit stop saw Webber receiving a drive-through penalty for speeding. Heidfeld also had his problems, having to pit on two laps in succession as his fuel rig failed on the first visit. On lap 24 Coulthard began to shows potential signs of trouble as Alonso took sixth place from the Scot. Both pitted at the same time and a fantastic effort by the McLaren crew put DC back into sixth, exiting just ahead of Alonso. By lap 26 there had still been no retirements from the race; a testament to the much improved reliability of the new machines. But just as everything was looking settled, up popped Webber again, spinning off and out. On lap 27 Button, who had been battling for third place with Raikonnen, managed to rejoin the race, after pitting, just in front of the Norwegian; putting him in that all- important podium place. Lap 28 saw Ralf Schumacher retire with a blown engine. The remaining laps saw little incident and another steady victory by Michael Schumacher who had led throughout. The final placings were:
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