Renault History & Team Record

Turbo's, turbo's everywhere and mostly up in smoke - well at least for the first few seasons. The Renault mechanics had to endure years of being the subject of the pit lane jokes.  Engine and turbocharger fires were so common that it was found that could simply poke a wet mop up the exhaust of the car to extinguish the flames!
Fortunately, by 1979 the reliability started to come around and by 1980 they had become serious contenders. A huge crash at the Canadian GP ended Jean-Pierre Jabouille's F1 career and a young, talented driver by the name of Alain Prost was signed to replace him for 1981.  This was the spark needed to vie for the World Championship, but for three seasons the team fell just short and Prost moved on to McLaren after another disappointment in 1983. 

The 1984 season was a disaster. After supplying engines to Lotus starting in 1983, the French government pressured state owned Renault into also giving engines to Ligier and it was clear that resources were being stretched very thin. Gerard Larrousse and designer Michel Tetu left for Ligier at the end of the season forcing more changes upon an already failing organization.

1985 showed the weaknesses of the Renault chassis program as the Lotus' of Senna and de Angelis were clearly superior while using the same engine.  It was decided to disband the works team at the end of the season but to continue supplying engines in 1986 to Lotus, Ligier and Tyrrell.

After a short hiatus the company re-entered F1 competition in 1988 purely as an engine partner with its V10 design, enjoying huge success first with Williams and then Benetton.  Once again, the company withdrew from official participation at the end of 1997, handing over the preparation and development of its powerplants first to Mecachrome and then to former Benetton team manager Flavio Briatore's company SuperTec.  However, during the 2000 season the Benetton family decided to sell the team and Briatore brokered a deal for a now privately held Renault to return to competition with a works team in 2002.

2001 was a development year in which Benetton ran the radical new 111 degree V10 design with limited success, though towards the end of the season the engine began to show promise and the works team were much more optimistic of their chances during the 2002 than they were in 1977. Benetton driver Jenson Button stayed on to partner Finn, Jarno Trulli (who was managed by Briatore) and the team looked set make a run for the championship. All the promise came to nothing however as the team struggled with aerodynamic grip and reliability issues as Ferrari once again dominated the series. Button moved on to BAR and for 2003 Flavio Briatore promoted former test driver (and protégé) Fernando Alonso to partner Trulli. Finally in Hungary the young Spaniard netted the teams first win since Alain Prost won the Austrian GP in 1983.

The momentum gained in 2003 carried through into the next season and Trulli scored a sensational win at Monaco as the team consistently challenged for podium positions and finished third in the Constructor's Championship. Trulli's relationship with the team (and Briatore in particular) deteriorated rapidly during the second half of the season and it came as no surprise that he announced a move to Toyota. In light of this, Trulli was replaced for the final two races of the year by former champion Jacques Villeneuve, who was returning to F1 after a season. The Canadian did nothing to impress the team and for 2005 Giancarlo Fisichella was signed to partner Alonso.

The 2005 season began in fine style as Fisichella won the opening Australian GP in the rain, however from that point on it was Alonso who took control of the championship as the Italian, as well as main challenger Kimi Raikonnen of McLaren, were hit with a rash of mechanical problems. Despite a mid-season resurgence by Raikonnen and McLaren team-mate Juan-Pablo Montoya, Alonso became the youngest ever F1 Champion at the Brazilian GP then went on to win in China to secure Renault's first ever Constructor's Championship.

2006 saw a very close fight between Alonso and a resurgent Michael Schumacher and Ferrari with both titles going down to the wire, with the young Spaniard repeating as champion. However uncertainties over Renault's long term commitment in F1 led to Alonso signing with McLaren for 2007, with young Finnish test driver Heikki Kovalainen being promoted to the race team to replace the departing champion.  

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