 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Tyrrell 026" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(September 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
 Toranosuke Takagi driving the Tyrrell 026 at the1998 Spanish Grand Prix. | |||||||||
| Category | Formula One | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Constructor | Tyrrell | ||||||||
| Designer(s) | Harvey Postlethwaite(Technical Director) Mike Gascoyne(Deputy Technical Director) Tim Densham(Chief Designer) Ben Agathangelou(Head of Aerodynamics) | ||||||||
| Predecessor | 025 | ||||||||
| Successor | BAR 01 | ||||||||
| Technical specifications | |||||||||
| Chassis | carbon-fibre and honeycomb composite structure | ||||||||
| Suspension (front) | double wishbones, pushrod, horizontal coil-spring/damper | ||||||||
| Suspension (rear) | double wishbones, pushrod, horizontal coil-spring/damper | ||||||||
| Engine | Ford JD Zetec-R, 3.0-litre 72-degreeV10 | ||||||||
| Transmission | Tyrrell six-speed longitudinal sequential semi-automatic | ||||||||
| Power | 710 hp (529 kW) @ 15,000 rpm[1] | ||||||||
| Fuel | Elf | ||||||||
| Tyres | Goodyear | ||||||||
| Competition history | |||||||||
| Notable entrants | PIAATyrrell Racing | ||||||||
| Notable drivers | 20. Ricardo Rosset21.  Toranosuke Takagi | ||||||||
| Debut | 1998 Australian Grand Prix | ||||||||
| Last event | 1998 Japanese Grand Prix | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Constructors' Championships | 0 | ||||||||
| Drivers' Championships | 0 | ||||||||
TheTyrrell 026 was the car with which theTyrrell team competed in the1998 Formula One World Championship and was the final Tyrrell car to compete in F1.
1998 was Tyrrell's final year in F1, asKen Tyrrell had sold the team toBritish American Racing prior to the first race.[2]Paul Stoddart had almost bought the team prior to BAR's takeover, but the BAR deal had already been finalized. Stoddart'sEuropean Aviation sponsored the team and provided transportation during the season.[3]
Tyrrell left the team soon afterward BAR's takeover in anger, after Rosset was chosen to drive alongside Takagi, rather than1997 Tyrrell driverJos Verstappen. The team had aV10 engine and a reasonable chassis, but the season was seen as a holding year before BAR took over in1999. The car retained the tower sidepod mounted wings introduced by Tyrrell the year before. The wings had been copied by other teams but were banned partway into the season.[4]
Ken Tyrrell preferred to retain Verstappen but new team principalCraig Pollock signed Rosset due to his superior sponsorship money. Tyrrell was so incensed at this that he quit the team before the first race.[5] Rosset failed the 107% qualifying cutoff on five occasions, and his performance at Monaco infuriated his mechanics so much that they defaced his paddock scooter, changing the letters in 'Rosset' to spell'tosser'.[6]
Rosset finished eighth inCanada, which was ultimately the team's best result of the season, but was in danger of losing his seat to Danish driverTom Kristensen. At a test atMagny-Cours, Rosset and Takagi posted almost equal times, with Kristensen around half a second slower, albeit with an older engine.[7] Rosset said in 2019 that Kristensen drove the same car as he did, with only a change of seat and minor adjustments.[8] Rosset went on to outqualify Takagi at the following race at the same circuit, theFrench Grand Prix.[9]
For the first few races, X-wings were used, but they were banned after the San Marino Grand Prix.
The team was unclassified in the Constructors' Championship, with no points but behindMinardi due to the Italian team having a better finishing record.
As with the previous season, the 026 was painted in white and black with an additional silver accents. Other additional colours were added; orange for Takagi and green for Rosset.PIAA was the team's title sponsor for the second and final year before switching intoArrows.
The two 026s raced by Takagi and Rosset were later owned by Frits van Eerd. He raced the cars in theEuroBOSS series.
Paul Stoddart bought most of the team's assets including the 026 chassis, which formed the basis of his Minardi F1x2 two seater cars.[10]
(key) (results inbold indicate pole position)
| Year | Entrant | Engine | Tyres | Drivers | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | Points | WCC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | PIAA Tyrrell | Ford JD Zetec-RV10 | G | AUS | BRA | ARG | SMR | ESP | MON | CAN | FRA | GBR | AUT | GER | HUN | BEL | ITA | LUX | JPN | 0 | NC | |
| Ricardo Rosset | Ret | Ret | 14 | Ret | DNQ | DNQ | 8 | Ret | Ret | 12 | DNQ | DNQ | DNS | 12 | Ret | DNQ | ||||||
| Toranosuke Takagi | Ret | Ret | 12 | Ret | 13 | 11 | Ret | Ret | 9 | Ret | 13 | 14 | Ret | 9 | 16 | Ret |
| |||||||
| |||||||
| |||||||
| |||||||
 | ThisFormula One–related article is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it. |
