The Williams FW26 is a Formula One

Formula One

Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...

 racing car designed and built by Williams F1 for the 2004 Formula One season

2004 Formula One season

The 2004 Formula One season was the 55th FIA Formula One World Championship season, running from March 7 to October 24, 2004. The season was dominated by Michael Schumacher and Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro...

. The design team was led by Patrick Head

Patrick Head

Patrick Head , is co-founder and Engineering Director of the Williams Formula One team.For 25 years from Head was technical director at Williams Grand Prix Engineering, and responsible for many innovations within Formula One. Head oversaw the design and construction of Williams cars until May 2004...

, Gavin Fisher

Gavin Fisher

Gavin Fisher was formerly Chief Designer of the Williams Formula One team. He studied mechanical engineering at Hatfield Polytechnic, which was famous for its aeronautical engineers, graduating with a first class honors degree. He was hired by Williams through an add in the media in 1988...

 and Antonia Terzi

Antonia Terzi

Antonia Terzi is an Italian aerodynamicist who has worked for the Ferrari and Williams Formula One teams.Terzi worked in the design department at Ferrari under Rory Byrne until 2002 when she was recruited by Williams to become the team's chief aerodynamicist...

. It was driven by Ralf Schumacher

Ralf Schumacher

Ralf Schumacher is a German racing driver, and the younger brother of seven-time Formula One World Champion Michael Schumacher...

 and Juan Pablo Montoya

Juan Pablo Montoya

Juan Pablo Montoya Roldán is a Colombian race car driver known internationally for participating and winning in Formula One and CART race competitions. He has enjoyed great success. Currently, he competes in NASCAR, driving the #42 Target Chevrolet Impala for Earnhardt Ganassi Racing in the Sprint...

 and proved to be one of the most attention grabbing cars of the season. The FW26 was powered by a BMW

BMW

Bayerische Motoren Werke AG is a German automobile, motorcycle and engine manufacturing company founded in 1916. It also owns and produces the Mini marque, and is the parent company of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. BMW produces motorcycles under BMW Motorrad and Husqvarna brands...

 3.0 V10 engine, one of the most powerful in F1 at the time.

Williams had finished 2003 with arguably the strongest package overall, and great expectation was on the team to win both titles in 2004, having come so close the previous year. To this end, Head supervised the car with the aim of being on the pace immediately, whilst his design team came up with a revolutionary aerodynamics package. The car featured a radical front section, nicknamed the 'Walrus

Walrus

The walrus is a large flippered marine mammal with a discontinuous circumpolar distribution in the Arctic Ocean and sub-Arctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere. The walrus is the only living species in the Odobenidae family and Odobenus genus. It is subdivided into three subspecies: the Atlantic...

 nose'. It featured a short, stubby nosecone connected to the front wing by sloping vertical spars which allowed more airflow to the underside of the car. In an effort to maximise the airflow, the front suspension was designed around the twin keel

Suspension keel

A suspension keel is an extension pylon to the bodywork of single-seat, open wheel racing cars designed with a raised nose cone, to allow the lower suspension arms to be attached to the car approximately parallel to the road surface...

 principle, pioneered by Sauber

Sauber

Sauber F1 Team is a Swiss Formula One team. It was founded in the 1970s by Peter Sauber, who progressed through hillclimbing and the World Sportscar Championship to reach Formula One in 1993....

 and also used by McLaren and Jordan

Jordan Grand Prix

Jordan Grand Prix was a Formula One constructor that competed from 1991 to 2005. The team is named after Irish businessman and founder Eddie Jordan...

.

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

Ferrari F2004

The Ferrari F2004 is a championship-winning Formula One racecar, designed by Rory Byrne, Ross Brawn and Aldo Costa for the 2004 Formula One season...

, 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.
The mid-season was especially barren. The cars were disqualified from second and fifth place finishes in Canada

2004 Canadian Grand Prix

The 2004 Canadian Grand Prix was a Formula One race held on June 13, 2004 at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.It was won by Michael Schumacher, with teammate Rubens Barrichello second, making for a 1-2 finish for the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro as part of a season where Ferrari took the most wins of the...

 for running brakes that infringed the technical regulations, and Schumacher suffered a heavy crash at Indianapolis

Indianapolis Motor Speedway

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway, located in Speedway, Indiana in the United States, is the home of the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race and the Brickyard 400....

, sidelining him for three months. His replacements, Marc Gené

Marc Gené

Marc Gené i Guerrero is a motor racing driver, from Catalonia, Spain. He is best known as a tester for Williams and Ferrari in Formula One, Minardi Formula One driver and factory driver for Peugeot's Le Mans team, with which he won the 2009 24 Hours of Le Mans...

 and Antônio Pizzonia

Antônio Pizzonia

Antônio Reginaldo Pizzonia Júnior is a Brazilian racing driver who has raced in Formula One and the Champ Car World Series.He is nicknamed "Jungle Boy", a reference to his native Amazonas...

 could do little with the car and it was left to Montoya to defend Williams' honour.

The team redesigned the front end of the car in time for the Hungarian Grand Prix

2004 Hungarian Grand Prix

The 2004 Hungarian Grand Prix was a Formula One race held on August 15, 2004 at the Hungaroring.__FORCETOC__- Qualifying :-Race:- Notes :* Lap Leaders: Michael Schumacher 70...

 and fitted the car with a more conventional nosecone. This helped bring an upsurge of competitiveness to the car and gave Montoya a needed boost. He rounded off the season with a win in Brazil, whilst the returning Schumacher put in strong drives in Japan and China. They eventually finished fourth in the constructors standings, just behind Renault

Renault F1

Lotus Renault GP, formerly the Renault F1 Team, is a British Formula One racing team. The Oxfordshire-based team can trace its roots back through the Benetton team of the late 1980s and 1990s to the Toleman team of the early 1980s. Renault had also competed in various forms since , before taking...

, making 2004 the worst season for Williams since 1999

1999 Formula One season

The 1999 Formula One season was the 50th FIA Formula One World Championship season. It commenced on March 7, 1999, and ended on October 31 after sixteen races. The season saw the introduction of a new event to the World Championship calendar, the Malaysian Grand Prix...

. Both drivers left at the end of the season, and the replacement FW27 was designed to be a far more conventional car for the following year.

The FW26 was the last Williams Formula One car that was designed under the supervision of longtime Williams technical director Patrick Head.