The Renault era started in , with Italian Riccardo Patrese and Belgian Thierry Boutsen at the helm of the two Williams cars. Boutsen replaced Mansell, who had signed on to be Gerhard Berger's teammate at Ferrari. The engine's first Grand Prix in Brazil was one that the team preferred to forget: Boutsen retired with an engine failure and Patrese with an alternator failure after leading, although Patrese did qualify second. The Williams Renault team managed to get back on track with Boutsen coming fourth in the next race at Imola, earning the team three points in their championship campaign. Two races later at the Mexican Grand Prix, the team managed to achieve their first podium with the Renault engine, as Patrese finished second, 15 seconds behind Ayrton Senna. The next race saw Patrese finish second again, having started from 14th on the grid, with Boutsen 6th. At the sixth round in Montreal, Williams not only scored their first win with the Renault engine but also their first one-two: Thierry Boutsen came first followed by Patrese, resulting in 15 points for Williams's championship campaign. Williams came second in the Constructors' Championship, scoring 77 points in total; 64 points behind McLaren. Patrese finished 3rd in the Drivers' Championship with 40 points, 41 points behind the 1989 world champion, Alain Prost. Boutsen finished 5th in the championship with 37 points after also winning in Australia. Boutsen's win in Australia gave Williams the distinction of having won the first and last Grands Prix of the 1980s.