[Race] The GROAT - Round 2 - 2004 Monaco vs 1979 Dijon

[crmalcolm]

The next match in the second round.
The 2004 Monaco GP takes on the 1979 Dijon GP.

2004 Monaco
Qualifying had seen Trulli claim pole position ahead of Ralf Schumacher, marking the Italian racer's first pole triumph. Championship leader Michael Schumacher, meanwhile, would lineup in fourth behind Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso, Ralf Schumacher having been hit with a grid penalty for an engine change, with Kimi Räikkönen claiming sixth for his best quali result of the season.

Raceday saw little change to the overall order during the warm-up, with the Mediterranean Principality bathed in sunshine. There would, however, be some late chaos ahead of the start, with the first start itself having to be aborted when Olivier Panis stalled his Toyota.

When the race did get underway there would be nothing stopping Trulli, who duly streaked into Sainte Devote at the head of the field. Teammate Alonso also made a brilliant getaway to leap into second, while Takuma Sato shot into fourth behind teammate Button.

The rest of the opening lap proved fairly clean, until Christian Klien removed his front wing by hitting one of the Jordan-Ford Cosworths at Mirabeau. That, however, would be it for major dramas, until a failure for Sato saw the race brought under the safety car's domain for the first time.

Indeed, after two laps of having oil smoke trailing from his car, Sato would see his engine let go completely at Tabac, throwing out a huge cloud of white smoke. The two Ferraris and Räikkönen, immediately behind the #10 BAR-Honda made it through without issue, before David Coulthard slammed on his brakes, catching out Giancarlo Fisichella.

Fisichella's Sauber-Petronas would smash over the top of the McLaren-Mercedes, before sliding to a stop against the barriers on its side. Fisichella required the marshals' aid to pull his car away so he could escape, although fortunately no serious injuries resulted.

The race resumed with the top three once again pulling clear, leaving Räikkönen to hold up the two Ferraris. The status quo was maintained until the first drivers made their first pitstops, with Schumacher gaining a lot of ground in clear aid to jump Räikkönen and Button.

Indeed, the race would settle down after that, with Trulli and Alonso cruising ahead of Schumacher, with the gap between the Renaults and the Ferrari remaining stable. That was, until Ralf Schumacher intervened, forcing Alonso into a race ending mistake when lapping the #4 Williams, which saw the Renault demolish itself on the barriers heading to the Nouvelle Chicane.

The sheer amount of broken Renault saw the safety car called upon again, prompting Trulli and Button to pit, while Schumacher stayed out. He therefore briefly led the race, until he decided to mess about on the brakes through the tunnel, and was subsequently pitched into the barriers by Juan Pablo Montoya.

The sight of Schumacher's ruined Ferrari emerging from the tunnel caused outrage in the Ferrari pit and joy for everyone else, with an investigation by the officials deeming the incident a racing one. It did, however, lengthen the safety car period, although there would be no stopping Trulli when the race did resume.

The rest of the race would see Trulli defend from Button as the two sprinted away at the rest of the field, with only third placed Rubens Barrichello on the lead lap. Ultimately their duel would end with Trulli holding out to claim his maiden win by half a second, while Barrichello secured a distant third. Montoya, Felipe Massa, Cristiano da Matta, Nick Heidfeld and Panis claimed the remaining points.


1979 Dijon
Renault would start the weekend in a rather dominant mood, with Jabouille edging out teammate René Arnoux to grab pole as the yellow-black cars locked out the front row. Gilles Villeneuve in the #12 Ferrari was their closest challenger, with Nelson Piquet the best of those on Goodyear tyres in fourth.

Things would not go Renault's way at the start of the race, however, for Villeneuve would charge past the two yellow-black cars to claim the lead into turn one. Jabouille would go sprinting after the Canadian in second, while a miserable start for Arnoux saw the #16 Renault tumble to ninth.

The early stages would soon come to be dominated by Arnoux's recovery through the field, with the Frenchman weaving back up to third by lap fifteen. By that stage Villeneuve and Jabouille had disappeared into the distance, with Arnoux himself soon on his to leave Jody Scheckter to defend fourth from Piquet.

Villeneuve's time in the lead would come to an end shortly after the halfway point, the Canadian having burned through the best of his tyres early on. Jabouille duly went screaming past and disappeared into the distance, while Villeneuve began a slow tumble back towards Arnoux.

Arnoux would catch the Canadian with a handful of laps to go, and duly went charging through with three laps to run, only for an engine issue on the penultimate tour to gift second back to Villeneuve. The duo subsequently engaged in a thrilling duel across the entire final lap, with Villeneuve just hanging onto second by two tenths.

Out front, meanwhile, Jabouille secured an imperious maiden victory for himself and Renault, fifteen seconds clear of the fight behind him. Elsewhere, Alan Jones would inherit fourth after Piquet and Scheckter hit trouble, with Jean-Pierre Jarier and Clay Regazzoni completing the scorers list.

[S griffin]

I enjoyed watch Monaco 04 at the time, drama all the way and what we needed after Schumi dominated the first five races

However Dijon 79 will always be heralded as an all time great GP and rightly so

[chunterer]

Who's voted for 2004?!

Amazing....

Dijon is one of the most quoted and memorable races (and battles) of all time!

[Skam85]

Those darn millennials