A typhoon, a rescheduled qualifying, and a slice of history
On October 10, 2004, Michael Schumacher added another rare note to Formula 1 history at Suzuka. Typhoon Ma-on battered the circuit on Saturday, forcing officials to cancel track activity and move both qualifying sessions to Sunday morning. Hours later, Schumacher not only seized pole position on a damp-but-drying track by almost half a second over his brother Ralf — he also converted it into victory that same afternoon.
Same-day qualifying and racing has happened before in F1, but it remains unusual. For Schumacher, already on course for his final championship-winning season, it was another hallmark of dominance in a campaign defined by relentless excellence.
The final Schumacher one-two
Ralf Schumacher held station to complete a family one-two — the last time the brothers would share the top two steps in Formula 1. Jenson Button capped a strong day for BAR Honda by taking third, making the most of the shuffled grid and tricky conditions after the compacted Sunday schedule.
Incidents and an unforgettable retirement
Contact between Rubens Barrichello and David Coulthard ended both their races after 38 laps, with neither appearing overly concerned as the season wound down.
But the day’s most eye-catching subplot came from Mark Webber. After mastering the wet conditions to line up third for Jaguar, the Australian’s race was undone by an overheating cockpit. A bucket of water hurled into the car at a pit stop gave fleeting relief, but the temperature surged again, and Webber had to retire on lap 20 with minor burns to his thigh.
He later explained: "We could not find the cause for the heat, and so I carried on in the hope that it would cool down or at least remain static. It didn’t, and the heat soon became excruciatingly hot, and I had no option but to retire. You need to be completely focused on the race, and when the temperature is so high that you are being physically affected and thus distracted, then you need to take the decision to stop."
On a day shaped by a storm, Schumacher’s composure and speed shone through — and the record books duly took note.
