Renault R26 Championship Winning Car

Lore & Background

Over the course of the season it scored 8 wins out of 18 races, followed closely by the rival Ferrari 248 F1. The R26 helped Renault in claiming the Constructors' Championship with a 5-point advantage over rival Ferrari, and also taking Fernando Alonso to his second Drivers' Championship in succession, 13 points ahead of rival Michael Schumacher. It brought the last Constructors' Championship in recent history to tyre manufacturer Michelin. Like its rival the Ferrari 248 F1, the R26 was notable for its rock-solid reliability. Chassis R26-03 driven by Fernando Alonso started all of the races of the 2006 season without the need to be replaced; it also led more laps and won more races than any single chassis in 2006 in addition to winning the world championship. R26-03 now sits at Renault's “Histoire et Collection” heritage collection in Paris. The R26 was succeeded by the R27 for the 2007 season.

Reader's Guide

A tuned mass damper, also known as a harmonic absorber, is a device that is attached to structures in order to reduce the strength of vibrations passing through them. In the Renault R26, this technology was used to keep the front of car stable over kerbs and through slow and fast corners. The tuned mass damper in the Renault R26 was invented by Renault engineer Rob Marshall. The mass damper itself was a cylinder, standing upright, with the mechanical components inside. Inside the cylinder sat a 9 kilogram disc which rested in between two springs. The disc was free to move on the Y-axis with its only hindrance, the springs that it was attached to and the damper fluid within the cylinder. The whole assembly was attached to the chassis inside the nosecone of the car. The device was then 'tuned' to the needs of each track by either changing the clearance between the disc and the cylinder bore or by adjusting the size of a two-way valve within the disc itself. The tuned mass damper on the Renault R26 vibrated in the opposite direction from the chassis due to inertia, with its magnitude calculated by the 'tuning' variables mentioned above. Renault first introduced the technology in its 2005 challenger, Renault R25 at the 2005 Brazilian Grand Prix and had been deemed to be legal by the stewards. During the first half of the 2006 season, Renault had built up a comfortable points lead over their main rivals Ferrari. However, at the time of the German Grand Prix at the Hockenheimring the FIA decided to ban all the teams from using tuned mass dampers in their car. Even though the system was deemed legal for over half a year, the FIA decided that it broke the rule that no moving part can influence the aerodynamics of the car. Renault claimed that the loss of the system cost them 0.3 seconds a lap. The ban hurt the Renault team more than their competitors because Renault had designed their whole car around the technology, meanwhile, their competitors had just included the technology as an after-thought after seeing Renault's implementation. This was clearly visible because Ferrari won 5 of the 7 remaining races in the season. However, the French team managed to defend both championship titles successfully.

Did You Know?

• Renault used the 'Mild Seven' logos, except at the San Marino, European, British, Canadian, French, German, Turkish, Italian and Brazilian Grands Prix.
• Giancarlo Fisichella wore a special helmet at the French Grand Prix to celebrate the Italian team's victory at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Berlin.
• The R26 appears as a playable vehicle in Formula One 06 and Formula One Championship Edition. It would appear in F1 2017 and its subsequent releases as a classic car. It also appears in Grid and Grid Legends.