The Tyrrell 026 was the car with which the Tyrrell team competed in the 1998 Formula One World Championship and was the final Tyrrell car to compete in F1.

Background

Ownership by British American Tobacco (BAT)

1998 was Tyrrell's final year in F1, as

Ken Tyrrell Robert Kenneth Tyrrell (3 May 1924 – 25 August 2001) was a British Formula Two racing driver and the founder of the Tyrrell Formula One constructor.Setright, L. J. K. "Tyrrell: A Shrewd Talent-spotter", in Northey, Tom, ed. ''World of Automo ...

had sold the team to

British American Racing British American Racing (BAR) was a Formula One constructor that competed in the sport from 1999 to 2005. BAR began by acquiring Tyrrell Racing, Tyrrell, and used Supertec engines for their first year. Subsequently, they formed a partnership wit ...

prior to the first race.

Paul Stoddart Paul Gerard Stoddart (born 26 May 1955) is an Australian businessman, airline owner and former Minardi Formula One team boss. Personal life Born in Coburg, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, and attended Preston Technical School and ...

had almost bought the team prior to BAR's takeover, but the BAR deal had already been finalized. Stoddart's

European Aviation European, or Europeans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe and other West ...

sponsored the team and provided transportation during the season.

Design

Tyrrell left the team soon afterward BAR's takeover in anger, after Rosset was chosen to drive alongside Takagi, rather than Tyrrell driver

Jos Verstappen Johannes Franciscus "Jos" Verstappen (; born 4 March 1972) is a Dutch racing and rally driver, who competes in the European Rally Championship as a privateer. Verstappen competed in Formula One between and . Born and raised in Dutch Limburg, ...

. The team had a

V10 engine A V10 engine is a ten- cylinder piston engine where two banks of five cylinders are arranged in a V configuration around a common crankshaft. V10 engines are much less common than V8 and V12 engines. Several V10 diesel engines have been pro ...

and a reasonable chassis, but the season was seen as a holding year before BAR took over in . 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.

Season overview

Ken Tyrrell preferred to retain Verstappen but new team principal

Craig Pollock Craig Pollock (born February 20, 1956) is a British businessman. He was the manager of 1997 World Champion Formula One driver Jacques Villeneuve throughout his top-level career. Pollock was the founder of the British American Racing Formula One ...

signed Rosset due to his superior sponsorship money. Tyrrell was so incensed at this that he quit the team before the first race. 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'. Rosset finished eighth in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, which was ultimately the team's best result of the season, but was in danger of losing his seat to Danish driver

Tom Kristensen Tom Kristensen (born 7 July 1967) is a Danish former racing driver. He holds the record for the most wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with nine, six of which were consecutive (from 2000 to 2005). In 1997, he won the race with the Joest Racing te ...

. At a test at

Magny-Cours Magny-Cours () is a Communes of France, commune in the Nièvre Departments of France, department in central France. It is the home of the ''Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours'', a famous Motorsport#Motor racing, motor racing circuit (whose name is o ...

, Rosset and Takagi posted almost equal times, with Kristensen around half a second slower, albeit with an older engine. Rosset said in 2019 that Kristensen drove the same car as he did, with only a change of seat and minor adjustments. Rosset went on to outqualify Takagi at the following race at the same circuit, the

French Grand Prix The French Grand Prix (), formerly known as the Grand Prix de l'ACF (Automobile Club de France), is an auto race held as part of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile's annual Formula One World Championship. It is one of the oldest ...

. 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 behind

Minardi Minardi was an Italian automobile racing team and constructor founded in Faenza in 1979 by Giancarlo Minardi. It competed in the Formula One World Championship from 1985 until 2005 with little success, nevertheless acquiring a loyal following ...

due to the Italian team having a better finishing record.

Livery

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 into Arrows.

Aftermath

The two 026s raced by Takagi and Rosset were later owned by Frits van Eerd. He raced the cars in the

EuroBOSS The BOSS GP Racing Series is a motor racing series in Europe. The category originated in 1995 as the BOSS Formula series and evolved into the EuroBOSS Series. BOSS is an acronym that stands for Big Open Single Seaters. History The BOSS serie ...

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.

Complete Formula One results

( key) (results in bold indicate pole position)

References

* Tyrrell Formula One cars 1998 Formula One season cars {{F1-stub