Ferrari F2004 Michael Schumacher 2004 Championship 1:2 Scale End Plate
The F2004 is a highly successful Formula One racing car that was used by Ferrari for the 2004 Formula One season. The chassis was designed by Rory Byrne, Aldo Costa and John Iley with Ross Brawn playing a vital role in leading the production of the car as the team's Technical Director and Paolo Martinelli leading the engine design. Heavily based on the previous season's F2003-GA, the F2004 continued the run of success the team had enjoyed since 1999, winning the team's 6th straight Constructors' Championship and 5th straight Drivers' Championship for Michael Schumacher, his 7th, and final, world drivers' title in 2004. It is one of the most dominant cars in the history of Formula One. The car also brought a close to Ferrari's and Michael Schumacher's five-year domination of the sport, leaving the door open for Renault and Fernando Alonso. Ferrari used 'Marlboro' logos, except at the Canadian, United States, French and British Grands Prix.
The car was as successful as the equally dominant F2002, winning 15 out of 18 races, and scoring 12 pole positions including many lap records. Michael Schumacher won a single-season record of 13 races (Sebastian Vettel equaled this number in 2013) and gained a record breaking seventh World Championship (tied with Lewis Hamilton as at the end of the 2020 Formula One World Championship), while Ferrari was a clear winner in the Constructors' Championship. The F2004 was also extremely reliable, retiring from just two races and both of these were via collisions. In France, Schumacher won, beating Fernando Alonso's Renault after an innovative four stop pit strategy, such was the car's dominance.
After the 2004 season the car was developed further as a testbed for 2005 and used in the first two races. Despite a podium finish in the 2005 Australian Grand Prix, the car was retired to make way for its successor, the F2005, at the 2005 Bahrain Grand Prix.
In all, the car scored 272 championship points in its career, but its championship in 2004 also marked the end of Ferrari's Constructors' Championship winning streak, beginning with the 1999 Formula One season.
The F2004 was used as the basis for the 2008 "Powered by Ferrari" A1 Grand Prix car.