Second place went to Michael Schumacher, who won his seventh and final world championship, after beating third-placed Rubens Barrichello.

Mark Webber triggered a pile-up at the start, eliminating four cars and damaging several others, although he did admit his mistake later.

The race saw Christian Klien score his first championship points, and Olivier Panis and the Jaguar team their last.

Heading into the 14th race of the season, Michael Schumacher, driving for the Ferrari team, was leading the Drivers' Championship by 38 points from teammate Rubens Barrichello.

Ten days before the Hungarian Grand Prix, Button chose to leave BAR and signed a two-year contract to return to Williams.

They felt the new contract signed in the summer for Honda to supply engines to BAR was not definitive, and thus Button was free to move.

[5][6] With regard to the Spa circuit itself, the race did not take place in 2003 so that modifications to the Bus Stop chicane could be completed.

This left a huge piece of green-coloured tarmac, causing Martin Brundle to be very scathing of it during qualifying, stating "you could hold an entire kart meeting in there, including transporters and trucks!

[9] All teams, with the exception of Ferrari, Williams, McLaren, and Renault, were permitted to run three drivers on Friday.

[9] In pre-qualifying, Ricardo Zonta, driving for Toyota, spun off at Pouhon corner, leading him to collide with the tyre wall.

Going into Eau Rouge, Webber was side-by-side with Takuma Sato's BAR, and they collided in the middle of the corner whilst they were overtaken by Montoya's Williams.

During this time, Button, Massa, Barrichello, Heidfeld, Baumgartner, and Olivier Panis stopped for repairs caused by debris.

Alonso now led the race, but on lap 12 he had an oil leak and spun twice at Les Combes, losing the lead to Räikkönen.

Giancarlo Fisichella's Sauber ran wide on lap 20 and lost parts of his front wing.

On lap 31, Button suffered a right rear tyre de-lamination similar to Coulthard's, at approximately 205 mph (330 km/h),[15] pitching him into a spin.

As a result, he crashed into the Minardi of Baumgartner, who was being lapped, putting both drivers out of the race and bringing out a safety car.

The safety car came in at the end of lap 41, but just four corners later, fourth-placed Zonta's engine blew up spectacularly, putting him out of the race.

At the 2005 British Grand Prix, Daily Express editor Bob McKenzie honoured a pledge that he would run naked around Silverstone if McLaren won a race in 2004.