After the team used the RE20 for the first five races of the 1981 World Championship, the RE30 made its debut at the Monaco Grand Prix. At the team's home race in France, René Arnoux put the car on pole position, before team-mate Alain Prost took his first Grand Prix victory. The car then took pole in each of the next five races (Arnoux three times and Prost twice), with Prost winning again in Holland and finishing second in Germany, and Arnoux himself finishing second in Austria. Prost then took a third win in Italy, before rounding off the year with another second place at Caesars Palace. He thus finished fifth in the Drivers' Championship with Arnoux ninth, while the team took third in the Constructors' Championship.