The 2004 Bahrain Grand Prix would see BMW WilliamsF1 driver Ralf Schumacher finish a lowly eighth, scoring just one point. Team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya would finish in thirteenth after having problems with his car in the closing stages of the race. In the early stages Juan Pablo was running third but at no time did he offer any real challenge to the Ferrari's that finished first and second.

The race start was to have seen Kimi Raikkonen start from the pitlane, but this decision would be changed and he would start from nineteenth. Zolt Baumgartner would start from the rear after an engine change. Minardi's Bruni would fail to make the start of the parade and would have to start from the rear of the grid. As the cars left the grid it was Michael Schumacher leading from Barrichello, Juan Pablo, BAR's Takuma Sato, Ralf Schumacher, and Jarno Trulli. Toyota's Da Matta would run wide losing several places. Kimi Raikkonen was already in fourteenth. But in an worrying sign Michael was pulling away from Rubens. Fernando Alonso would lose his front wing, forcing him to pit.

Michael would be a staggering 1.5 seconds faster than third placed Montoya. Lap four and Michael was 3.3 seconds ahead of Rubens and 5.8 ahead of Montoya in third. Lap five and Michael would set a fastest lap with a time of 1m:31.040. Lap six and Ralf would try to pass Sato, but the Japanese driver would close the door on him. Button was seventh in the other BAR. Lap seven and Ralf would make contact with Sato which would see him off the track and head into the pitlane for his car to be checked. Ralf's car had been pitched into the air after making contact with the BAR. da Matta would pit on lap seven indicating a three stop race strategy.

Lap eight would see Raikkonen's engine fail with flames coming out of the back of the Finn's McLaren. That was his third retirement in three races. At the front Michael was continuing to move away from the cars behind. On lap nine he was 5.388 seconds ahead of Barrichello, but he would make his first pit stop, 7.2 seconds. He would return out behind Button in sixth. He would be joined by Coulthard, Webber and Massa. Ralf would set the fastest first sector of the race, his stop to have his car appeared to be completely unnecessary. Lap ten and both Juan Pablo and Barrichello would pit. Lap eleven and Sato would pit from third position. Button would lead the race until the next lap when he too would pit, stopping for 12 seconds.

Lap fourteen and Michael was 11.7 seconds ahead of Rubens, with Juan Pablo a further 3.3 seconds behind. Ralf and Alonso were battling it out for a lowly seventeenth. It was announced that the stewards weer looking at the Sato - Ralf incident. It appeared to be Ralf's fault. Jaguar's Christian Klien would spin, sliding off the track and loses two places. Lap nineteen would see Sato's front nose damaged, possibly from the kerb, forcing him to pit. Lap twenty one and the only retirement was that of Raikkonen. By lap twenty one Michael's lead was out to 13.5 seconds.

The track temperatures seemed to be favouring the Bridgestone runners. By lap twenty four Juan Pablo was 22.4 seconds behind Michael. The following lap and Michael would stop, joined by Ralf from eighth. His poor race would get even worse when he was to knock over his fuel man after confusion at his pit stop. The mechanic would get up and get on with the pit stop.

Lap twenty seven and Montoya stops for the second time, stopping for 8.3 seconds. Right behind him was Jenson Button, but the BAR drivers stop was slow. Leading was Rubens and he would stop, away in 7.5 seconds. By lap twenty nine all the runners had stopped except Jordan's Nick Heidfeld. Ralf would pass da Matta for twelfth place. Lap thirty and Rubens would set the fastest lap of the race so far. But despite this Michael Schumacher would still lead Rubens by 11 seconds with Juan Pablo nineteen seconds behind.

Lap thirty one and Alonso would pass Webber going into Turn one, moving into eighth. Sato and Coulthard would be fighting for sixth. lap thirty three and Sauber's Giancarlo Fisichella would spin after what appeared to be contact with Ralf. On the same lap Sato would pull off an excellent pass on Coulthard, even with damage to his rear wing. A great performance from the Japanese driver. Lap thirty five and Michael was leading Rubens by 12.1 seconds. Ralf would struggle to closing in on tenth placed Toyota's Olivier Panis.

The top six were Michael, Rubens, Juan Pablo, Trulli, and the BAR pair of Button and Sato. Trulli was just 2.4 seconds behind Juan Pablo. Lap thirty eight and Sato would pit, joined by Coulthard and Trulli. The Renault driver stopped for 8.3 seconds. Both Panis and da Matta would pit. Montoya was in, stopping for just 7.4sec. Button would stop on lap forty and was able to come back out in front of Trulli. Michael Schumacher would stop from the lead, returning in second place. Team-mate Barrichello would stop returning ahead of Montoya who was third.

Renault's Fernando Alonso was staring to pressure Sato for seventh position. Button would start to close in on Montoya as the closing laps of the race counted down. Lap forty five and Ralf would pit from sixth, while at the front the Ferrari's started to ease their pace. Button was still closing in onto the rear of Juan Pablo. He was closing by about 0.5 seconds each lap. By lap forty eight and he was just 2.7 seconds behind the WilliamsF1 driver.

Ralf would set a his quickest lap time of 1m:31.061 in the closing stages of the race. Why now one has to ask. Juan Pablo seemed to be struggling to match the pace of Button. Button would finally pass the Colombian but only after Juan Pablo put up a fight. It appeared to be that the FW26 was having brake problems. Trulli also started to close in on Juan Pablo. Lap fifty and Trulli would pass him on the straight taking fourth. Team-mate Alonso was just 0.5 seconds behind Sato who was in sixth. Coulthard would pit on lap fifty one but after having problems with his stop his car would come to a halt and the end of the pit lane. A terrible weekend for McLaren.

With five laps remaining Michael still lead from Rubens, with Button third. By lap fifty four Juan Pablo had been passed by both Sato and Alonso dropping him to seventh. Team-mate Ralf was in eighth so at least the team would score a few points. But in thew dying moments of the race Ralf would also pass Juan Pablo reversing the finishing positions. But on the final lap Jaguar's Mark Webber would pass Juan Pablo for the final point scoring position. Juan Pablo would drop to thirteenth as he was passed by several cars on the final lap.

P. No Driver Team - Engine Tyres Gaps/Laps Average Stops

1. 1 M. SCHUMACHER Ferrari B 1h28'34"875 209.143 Km/h 3
2. 2 BARRICHELLO Ferrari B + 0'01"367 209.089 Km/h 3
3. 9 BUTTON BAR Honda M + 0'26"687 208.098 Km/h 3
4. 7 TRULLI Renault M + 0'32"214 207.883 Km/h 3
5. 10 SATO BAR Honda M + 0'52"460 207.099 Km/h 3
6. 8 ALONSO Renault M + 0'53"156 207.072 Km/h 3
7. 4 R.SCHUMACHER Williams BMW M + 0'58"155 206.879 Km/h 3
8. 14 WEBBER Jaguar Cosworth M 1 lap(s) 3
9. 17 PANIS Toyota M 1 lap(s) 3
10. 16 DA MATTA Toyota M 1 lap(s) 3
11. 11 FISICHELLA Sauber Petronas B 1 lap(s) 3
12. 12 MASSA Sauber Petronas B 1 lap(s) 3
13. 3 MONTOYA Williams BMW M 1 lap(s) 3
14. 15 KLIEN Jaguar Cosworth M 1 lap(s) 3
15. 18 HEIDFELD Jordan Ford B 1 lap(s) 2
16. 19 PANTANO Jordan Ford B 2 lap(s) 3
17. 20 BRUNI Minardi Cosworth B 5 lap(s) 2
18. 5 COULTHARD McLaren Mercedes M 7 lap(s) 4
19. 21 BAUMGARTNER Minardi Cosworth B 13 lap(s) 3
20. 6 RAIKKONEN McLaren Mercedes M 50 lap(s) 0