Belgian Grand Prix: 2004 Trivia Quiz

Answer: 1925

The original course was built in 1921, but was only used for motorcycle racing until 1924 when a 24 hour automobile endurance race was held. The 1925 Belgian Grand Prix was won by the Italian Antonio Ascari, driving an Alfa Romeo. Sadly Ascari suffered a fatal accident during his next Grand Prix race, which was the 1925 French Grand Prix. Antonio's son, Alberto Ascari, inherited his father's mantle, and went on to win both the 1952 and the 1953 Belgian Grand Prix races.

Answer: Spa-Francorchamps

The Belgian Grand Prix has also been held at Nivelles (1972 & 1974), and at Zolder (1973, 1975 - 1982, & 1984). Magny-Cours was the location of the 2004 French Grand Prix, and Imola and Hockenheim hosted the San Marino and German Grand Prix races respectively.

Answer: True

At 4.329 miles (6.968 kilometres) the Spa-Francorchamps track was considerably longer than most other 2004 Grand Prix circuits, most of which were a mile or more shorter. The next longest track, at 3.642 miles (5.807 kilometres) was Suzuka, home of the 2004 Japanese Grand Prix. The original Belgian Grand Prix circuit, built in 1921 was 9.3 miles long, part of which was on public roads.

Answer: Jarno Trulli

The weather conditions during the qualifying drives varied between dry and wet, with heavy rain at times. Most teams sent their drivers out with 'wet' tyres, but Renault made the brave decision to use 'intermediates'. This strategy paid off, and the teams which followed Renault also decided on intermediates. Unfortunately by the time the Ferrari drivers started their qualifying rounds it had started to rain heavily again, resulting in slower times.

In spite of winning pole position Trulli only came ninth in the race, at one stage being pushed off the track by Montoya.

Answer: Final day of the 2004 Olympic games.

As well as competing in the Belgian Grand Prix, the Formula One teams had to compete with the Olympic games for the worldwide television audience. No doubt the various sponsors were not too pleased! The 2004 Kentucky Derby was on May 1st, and was won by a horse named Smarty Jones ridden by Stewart Elliott.

There was no America's Cup race in 2004, the last race being in 2003 which was won by the Swiss team, who are the hosts for the next race at Valencia in 2007.

Answer: The ban on tobacco advertising was lifted

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r??mposed a national ban on tobacco advertising. As most Formula One teams include tobacco companies amongst their sponsors this meant they would have been unable to meet their contractual obligations, so all the competing teams decided to withdraw. The race promoters took legal action against this decision, but this was dismissed by the Belgian Court.

Answer: Rear tyre blow-out.

After his tyre failure David Coulthard managed to get his car back to the pits, and was able to finish the race in seventh position. Montoya suffered his failure while in third position with only eight laps to go. He also managed to limp back to the pits, but his car had suffered further damage, and he had to retire. Jenson Button's tyre failure was the most spectacular, occurring at over 200 mph in the Les Combes straight, which was the fastest section of the circuit.

His BAR Honda then collided with Zsolt Baumgartner's Minardi, putting both drivers out of the race.

Answer: All of Michael Schumacher's Belgian Grand Prix victories have been achieved driving a Ferrari.

Schumacher's first victory at Spa-Francorchamps was in 1995, driving for Benetton. His disqualification in 1994 was due to a badly worn wood block on the floor of his Benetton. His spectacular win in 1995, starting from sixteenth position, was gained in spite of a wheel collision with Damon Hill which resulted in an appeal by Williams.

He made his Formula One debut at the 1991 Belgian Grand Prix driving for Jordan.

Answer: None of them completed the first lap.

There were two serious crashes, fortunately without any injuries, during the first lap. Four drivers had to retire, the other being Giorgio Pantano of Jordan. The safety car was deployed after the second of these incidents. The other drivers involved managed to make it back to the pits and continue the race.

Answer: 700th

It was all the sevens for Ferrari, with Michael Schumacher achieving his seventh world championship title, and the Ferrari team their 700th Grand Prix race.

Answer: Sauber-Petronas

Both the Saubers completed the race with Felipe Massa coming in fourth, and Giancarlo Fisichella coming fifth. Other teams which managed to get both drivers to the end of the race were Ferrari, for whom Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello took second and third places, McLaren-Mercedes and Toyota.

The McLarens of Raikkonen and Coulthard came in first and seventh, and the Toyotas of Olivier Panis and Ricardo Zonta eighth and tenth.

Answer: First Formula One driver to hold seven world championships

Although he was only runner-up in the race, Michael Schumacher still gained enough points in the Belgian Grand Prix to make him the 2004 world champion. His nearest rival for the 2004 championship was his team-mate Rubens Barrichello who after the race had 88 driver points against Schumacher's 128 points. With only four races remaining in 2004, Schumacher could not be beaten for the world title.

Answer: False

In fact Ferrari had already won the 2004 constructor's championship, achieving victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix two weeks earlier. Ferrari had taken first and second places at that race. Following the Belgian Grand Prix Ferrari had increased their lead over their nearest rival, Renault, to 216 constructor points against Renault's 91 points.

Answer: In spite of several collisions and other incidents, nobody was injured and the safety car was never deployed in the 2004 Belgian Grand Prix.

The safety car was deployed three times in the 2004 Belgian Grand Prix. The first time was after the first lap incidents which eliminated Takuma Sato, Mark Webber, Gianmaria Bruni and Giorgio Pantano. Jenson Button's 200 mph collision with Zsolt Baumgartner's Minardi after his rear tyre blew out brought the safety car out for the second time, and then in lap 39 David Coulthard ran into the back of Christian Klien's Jaguar bringing the safety car out for the third time. All three safety car deployments forced teams and drivers to change their race tactics as lead times were cut and additional pit-stops made. Eleven drivers were officially classified as 'finishing' the 2004 Belgian Grand Prix, although two of them - Zonta and Heidfeld - were several laps behind at the finish.

Answer: Kimi Raikkonen

After starting from tenth place on the grid, Raikkonen made the most of the various incidents to move into the lead position. This ended a twenty-seven race losing streak, and gave him his second Formula One career win. It also gave McLaren their first victory since Malaysia eighteen months ago, where Raikonnen recorded his first ever win.