The Athletic

Michael Schumacher's 7th World Championship in 2004 had been an inevitability for some time when F1 made it to spa that year.

But that year's Belgian Grand Prix became yet another history-making

moment for Schumacher at the famous track, where he'd made his debut in 1991 and claimed

his first win in 1992.

But uncharacteristically for that season, Schumacher came his final world championship while

tasting defeat for only the second time that year.

And it was another driver famed for being great at Spa, Kimmy Reichenen, who took a first

win for McLaren that seemed unthinkable earlier in the year when it got off to a disastrous start.

I'm Glenn Freeman and here to help me pick through a weekend where there was lots going on,

our Ed Straw,

and I'm delighted to welcome back ex-McClara mechanic, Mark Priestley, for another

appearance on the show. So Mark, great to have you back with us. When you think back to

SPAR 2004, dare I ask, what's the first thing that comes to mind?

Well, it's the, it's the sort of only weekend of that season that really stands out to me because it actually for the team, it was a fairly dismal year in reality and certainly the

first half. So spa was a sort of real gem in amongst the, the difficulties. And, you know, you have to remember over a course of a long season and I was just saying to Ed before we started recording, I'm saying a long season. When I look back, those seasons were actually sort of 16, 17, 18 races back then and look at what we do now. So not really a long season at all, was it? But it felt like at a time. and that was one of those races that just stood out as a real highlight. It gave us a real boost.

And so, a long season at all, was it? But it felt like at the time. And that was one of those races that just

stood out as a real highlight. It gave us a real boost. And so that my overriding memory is the sort of celebration and the relief, I guess, at the moment we finally crossed the line. And Ed, what stands out for you? Well, obviously, SPAR 2004. It's the Kimmy Rykenen and win. But I'm going to go with the second one because Marks kind of covered that, which is Giorgio Pantano, Georgio Pantano in the Jordan, just for his part in the first lap crash that happened as the cars came off Rudion. He'd been really sensible, avoiding the crash, backed off well out the way on the right-hand side of the track, she had loads of speed, but somehow he still managed to collect Jimmy Bruney's crashed Minardi. He seemed to have the space and the time to roll off the brakes and get around him. It might be a really unfair impression, but it just looks really comedic and unnecessary. It's probably doing him a disservice, but it is bizarre bizarre i'd suggest everyone have a look at the replay of

that because it just seems a bit of unnecessary accident joining well we've we've i put out on

twitter uh that we were doing this episode and ask people for their memories and pantano got a few

mentions actually um surprisingly as did ricardo zonta lots of sympathy for him uh for

potentially losing out on a good result at Toyota.

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