The 015 was a development of the team's first ever turbo car, the Tyrrell 014 which had first run the Renault turbo in Brundle's hands at the 1985 French Grand Prix. As the 015 was still unfinished at the start of the season, the team ran the 014 for the first three races of the season. The new car was finally ready for Monaco and proved to be somewhat reliable, if not the fastest car on the grid. Of the three teams which used versions of the turbocharged Renault V6 during the season, Tyrrell were usually slower than both Ligier and Lotus. This was usually explained by Lotus having a works contract to run the latest engines (as well as having the undisputed fastest driver in Grand Prix racing, Brundle's old British F3 rival Ayrton Senna), while the French Ligier team had been using the French engines since . Tyrrell on the other hand, had a failed relationship with Renault during the early 1970s which prompted the factory to eventually form its own team in , only had a contract to run customer engines which were usually the oldest, least powerful and economical of those on offer.