Williams FW26

Design

Patrick Head supervised the FW26's development with the aim of being on the pace immediately, whilst his design team, which also contained Gavin Fisher and Antonia Terzi among others, came up with a revolutionary aerodynamics package. The car's "walrus nose" featured a short, stubby nose cone connected to the front wing by sloping vertical spars which allowed more airflow to the underside. To further maximise said airflow, the car also featured a twin-keel front suspension, pioneered by Sauber and also used by McLaren and Jordan.

Launch control and fully-automatic gearboxes, which had been used by the team for the previous three seasons since the 2001 Spanish Grand Prix, had also been banned for .

Season summary

The FW26 proved fast in pre-season testing and Montoya was tipped as a title favourite, but during the season proper the car proved difficult to set up and was inconsistent, with Montoya and Schumacher both struggling to maximise the car's potential. The car was genuinely outpaced by the Renaults and BARs of that time, as well as the Byrne/Brawn-designed Ferrari F2004, which dominated much of the season. This meant the team was largely in the upper midpack among the competition this year, but not in contention for the title.

Mid-season was especially barren. Both cars were disqualified from second and fifth-place finishes in Canada for running brakes that infringed the technical regulations, and Schumacher suffered a heavy crash at Indianapolis, sidelining him for three months, while Montoya was disqualified for the second race in a row for illegal use of a spare car after his car failed to start prior to the formation lap. Schumacher's replacements, Marc Gené and Antônio Pizzonia, could do little with the car and it was left to Montoya to defend Williams's honour.

The team redesigned the front end of the car in time for the Hungarian Grand Prix and fitted the car with a more conventional nosecone. It was with this configuration that Montoya set the then-all-time fastest F1 lap in pre-qualifying at Monza, almost 163 mph average. This does not stand as a lap record as it was not set during the race. He rounded off the season with a win in Brazil, whilst the returning Schumacher put in strong drives in Japan and China. Following Montoya's win in Brazil, Williams would not score another win until eight years later when fellow South American Pastor Maldonado won the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix in his FW34.

Complete Formula One results

(key) (results in bold indicate pole position)

Gallery

File:Williams FW26.jpg|Montoya demonstrating the FW26 at Regent Street, London on 6 July 2004 File:J p montoya usgp 2004.jpg|Montoya during the 2004 United States Grand Prix File:Juan Pablo Montoya 2004 Belgium.jpg|Montoya qualifying for the 2004 Belgian Grand Prix with the redesigned FW26 File:Williams FW26 front-right Donington Grand Prix Collection.jpg|An FW26 with the improved front section in the Donington Grand Prix Collection

References

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