Racing Car: Ferrari F2004

Ferrari's almost complete dominance of Formula 1 in 2004 has been acknowledged by the readers of Autosport, who have awarded the team's F2004 the prestigious title of Racing Car of the Year at the Autosport Awards

Dec 5, 2004, 10:43 PM

Autosport Awards

The Autosport Awards are a series of awards presented by motor racing magazine Autosport to drivers that have achieved significant milestones each season. Some of the presentations are selected by the general public via a reader's poll.

The team's chief designer Rory Byrne and engine designer Gilles Simon collected the award from ITV commentators and future sportscar team owners Martin Brundle and Mark Blundell.

Speaking about whether the team had any disappointment to missing out on the clean sweep of victores in 2004 - having taken 15 wins from the 18 races - Byrne said: "We try as hard as we can to win every race and take each race as it comes, but things don't work out for one reason or another. It doesn't go down well and we are not happy losing - but no-one is happy losing."

When asked by host Steve Rider whether they felt there was any chance of the opposition providing a much closer challenge in 2005, Byrne added: "I don't think we will really know for a while.

"I think for the first time in many years we have had some very fundamental changes to the rules - on tyres, aero and engine - so it is too early to see how it will pan out."