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Williams FW26
| Season: | 2004 | | | | Drive: | Rear | | | | Clutch: | AP | | | | Brakes: | Carbon Industrie carbon discs and pads operated by AP calipers | | | | Suspension: | WilliamsF1 | | | | Chassis: | Carbon Aramid epoxy composite, manufactured by WilliamsF1 | | | | Engine placement: | Rear | | | | Fronttrack: | Maximum allowance | | | | Reartrack: | Maximum allowance | | | | Weight: | 605 kg (including driver and camera) | | | | Number of wheels: | 4 | | | | Wheels: | O.Z: 13 x 12 front, 13 x 13.7 rear | | |
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The Williams FW26, when first launched in January attracted attention from many in the paddock for its unconventional nosecone design, with its extremely short, wide nose, and with the wing supports protruding forward from the end of the nosecone section in two arcs, rather than the conventional vertical supports seen throughout the rest of the grid. The tusklike nature of these supports was quickly likened to the tusks of a Walrus - with the nose design commonly being referred to as a 'Walrus nose'.
This design, attributed largely to former Ferrari aerodynamicist Antonia Terzi, had two theoretical advantages over a conventional nose design. Firstly, it ensured that the main plane of the front wing was exposed forward of the nosecone structure - giving it cleaner, uninterrupted airflow. Secondly, along with the Twin Keel suspension design, it helped enhance airflow underneath the car - to increase the efficiency of the rear diffusers.
However, the design had a few drawbacks, evident throughout the season. Firstly, the added weight necessarily needed to provide rigidity to the Twin Keel 'buttresses' (the mounting points or 'keels' on either side of the chassis where the front of the lower A-arm of the front suspension is mounted) caused some handling problems experienced throughout the season by the car's drivers. This is in contrast to a conventional Single Keel design, where the lower A-arms meet at a central mounting point (or 'keel') located underneath the nosecone, on the axis of symmetry. This weight - while necessarily present due to the twin keel design - also restricted where the team could place ballast on the car, which hampered car setup.
The other drawback was that the car, due to the radical nose, was pitch sensitive as well as being vulnerable to cross-winds. This problem hampered the development of the chassis throughout the 2004 season until Hungary, where a new, much more conventional nosecone was fitted to the car. This new nose section was used until the end of the season, and improved the competitiveness of the car - with it scoring its best two results of the season in the last two races, with Juan Pablo Montoya winning the final race of the season at Brazil, also his last race with the team before leaving for McLaren in 2005.
The Williams FW26 was disqualified from the Canadian Grand Prix due to it having infrnged the regulations on brake duct size. The ducts - which provide vital cooling on the Montreal circuit, while being legal in cross-sectional area, were found to have excessive width - and thus in contravention to the technical regulations.
During the 2004 Season, four drivers drove the FW26, namely Juan Pablo Montoya, Ralf Schumacher, Marc Gene and Antonio Pizzonia. After a heavy accident at the high speed Turn 13 at Indianapolis during the United States Grand Prix caused by a puncture, Ralf Schumacher would miss the next six races due to the injuries sustained in the high speed accident. Gene would drive alongside Montoya for the next two races, the French Grand Prix and British Grand Prix, but when he failed to score in either race, Williams gave the race drive to Pizzonia, their other test driver. Pizzonia would go on to score 6 points in the next four races, due to 7th places at Germany, Hungary and Italy - retiring from the Belgian Grand Prix with gearbox failure while running in a strong third position.
The problems experienced with the Twin Keel design caused Williams to announce that the car's successor would revert to a Single Keel suspension design, leaving the FW26 as the only Twin Keel Williams chassis.
Statistics
| Statistic | # | Percentage | First | Last | | Number of Grand Prix | 36 | 100% |  2004 |  2004 | | Number of starts | 36 | 100.00% | 2004 | 2004 | | Number of finishes | 26 | 72.22% | 2004 | 2004 | | Number of finishes on podium | 4 | 11.11% |  2004 | 2004 | | Number of finishes in points | 22 | 61.11% | 2004 | 2004 | | Number of retirements | 10 | 27.78% | 2004 |  2004 | | Number of wins | 1 | 2.78% | 2004 | 2004 | | Number of pole positions | 1 | 2.78% |  2004 | 2004 | | Number of fastest laps | 2 | 5.56% | 2004 | 2004 |
Created by: system
last modification: Saturday 16 of December, 2006 [15:44:35 UTC] by Sennaesque
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