McLaren 1-2, Whoops, not yet...
Grand Prix of Brazil

By Erik Nielsen
Photos courtesy and copyright Ferrari Media

There was a new face at the top of the podium in the last race of 2004 as Juan Pablo Montoya ended his career at Williams-BMW in the spot that the team had wished that he would occupy more than he did. In doing so, he snuffed out Barrichello’s chances of winning in front of his home crowd, but today was not to belong to the Brazilian. In some regards, both German influenced teams were happy. Sir Frank got to remember what is was like to be on top and McLaren-Mercedes are under the impression that they made the right decision for next year. Montoya coming in just a hair in front of Kimi Raikkonen showed that there may be a real battle in Woking next year. Let’s hope so, for the fans sake.

Burino was the favorite, but the changing weather conditions cut his work out for him. He would have to settle for third, but that is his best finish in front of his countrymen. He did do much better than his world championship winning team-mate who struggled after a crash in practice required him to replace an engine and thus start ten spots back. Michael Schumacher could do no better than seventh, but that was still better than the other world champion in the field; Jacques Villeneuve was in tenth. As in "out of the points."

Villeneuve’s team-mate, Fernando Alonso, finished just off the podium. While it was ahead of the two BARs, it was too little, too late. Rumors are flying that Flavio Briatore will have more time to date supermodels and actresses as his time is running short at the French team. But, the team did hit its target to be in the top three, so there may be some hope for the colorful character to still be present on pit lane.

Ralf Schumacher did do a better job than his brother this weekend with a fifth place finish. Still nothing to write home about, but probably leagues better than he will do next year when he drives the Toyota for money. Let’s hope that he can save enough during the year when the time comes to fire him for not being able to make the car work.

Takuma Sato-san did better than his team-mate and kept it together till the end. Finishing just ahead of Michael Schumacher made the BAR and Honda engineers happy and kept their minds off of Jenson Button. The Brit learned last week that he didn’t read his contract too carefully before he signed with Williams-BMW, and that his services will be with BAR next season, unless he wants to drive a cab in London. The fact that his car was smoking on the grid and only lasted four laps could be an indication that the mechanics decided to have a little “fun” with him. Cough, traitor, cough...

One thing that we will miss next year is the comic relief that Jaguar has provided us. In their last race as a team, the cars did get some camera time in front of the world, by colliding into each other. Maybe they were trying to tell Ford’s management something?

As for the rest, nobody was really watching. Both Toyotas finished, but no one outside of Japan noticed. So did both Minardis, but no one outside of Paul Stoddard’s family cared. And Eddie was seen trying to find an engine for next year. Anywhere.

Well, its official, the season is over. This one will probably be the high water mark for Michael Schumacher. It is hard to comprehend him winning more than 13 races and 7 in a row. Unless there are some rapid advances at another team over the winter or radical rule changes between now and then, Ferrari may still be far ahead of everyone else. For the tifosi and Ferraristi out there, let’s hope so.