With three races remaining, Alonso led the Drivers' Championship by 25 points from Räikkönen, needing only six more to clinch the title. In the Constructors' Championship, McLaren reduced Renault's lead to six points.
It was also the last race at Spa-Francorchamps with this layout with changes to the Bus Stop chicane and pitlane completed for the 2007 race
Friday drivers
The bottom 6 teams in the 2004 Constructors' Championship were entitled to run a third car in free practice on Friday. These drivers drove on Friday but did not compete in qualifying or the race.
Four practice sessions were held before the Sunday race—two on Friday from 11:00 to 12:00 and 14:00 to 15:00 local time, with the final two sessions held on Saturday morning between 09:00 to 09:45 and 10:15 to 11:00.[3] In the first free practice session on Friday, Räikkönen was fastest with 1:48.206 minutes ahead of Wurz and Fisichella. In the second session on Friday, no driver recorded valid times due to adverse weather conditions. The only drivers who took to the track during the session were Liuzzi, Doornbos and Alonso. Running was stopped just five minutes into the one-hour session after Liuzzi's car swerved left under braking for Les Combes and spun 180 degrees before hitting the barriers on the right hand side then spinning across the gravel and coming to rest at a second set of barriers.[4]
Saturday's afternoon qualifying session took place as a one-lap session held between 13:00 and 14:00. Drivers went out one at a time in the reverse order of their finishing positions at the previous race. The cars ran on the fuel that would be used for the Sunday race.[3]
The race took place in the afternoon from 14:00 local time. On lap 11 Fisichella had an accident at Eau Rouge, emerging unhurt from his wrecked Renault but this brought out the safety car.[5] On lap 14, Takuma Sato hit Michael Schumacher's car from behind, causing both to retire.[6]Antônio Pizzonia crashed into Juan Pablo Montoya—in second position at the time—shortly before the finish of the race.[6]Jacques Villeneuve was able to finish sixth by virtue of a one-stop pit strategy, while other drivers stopped as many as five times.
The race stewards ruled that Sato had caused the collision with Schumacher, and he would consequently drop ten places on the grid for the next Grand Prix in Brazil. They also fined Pizzonia $8,000 for his collision with Montoya.[7]
Unusually, McLaren did not send a representative to the podium to collect the constructors' trophy, so, Räikkönen accepted it on behalf of the team.[8]