The Tyrrell 026 was the car with which the Tyrrell Formula One team competed in the 1998 Formula One season, it was the last Tyrrell car to compete in F1. It was driven by Ricardo Rosset and rookie Toranosuke Takagi.
This was Tyrrell's last year in F1, as Ken Tyrrell had sold the team to British American Racing prior to the first race. Paul Stoddart had almost bought the team prior to BAR's takeover, but the deal was done. Nevertheless, Stoddart's European Aviation sponsored the team and provided transportion during the season.
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. The team had a V10 engine 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.
Ken Tyrrell preferred to retain Verstappen but new team principal Craig Pollock 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, which was ultimately the team's best result of the season, but was in danger of losing his seat to Danish driver Tom Kristensen. At a test at Magny-Cours, 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.
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 due to the Italian team having a better finishing record.
Current locations
The two Tyrrells raced by Takagi and Rosset were later owned by Dutchman . He raced the cars in the EuroBOSS series.
Paul Stoddart bought most of the team's assets including the 026 chassis, which formed the basis of his Minardi two seater cars.
Complete Formula One results
(key) (results in bold indicate pole position)