Renault F1

## Renault

**Renault Sport F1 Team** (***REN**-oh*) is a Formula One constructor that previously raced in two periods in the sport, from 1977 to 1985, and from 2002 to 2011 before purchasing the Lotus F1 Team in 2016. The team has competed in 304 races, winning 35, and winning two Constructors' titles, taking the title in 2005 and 2006, with driver Fernando Alonso winning the Drivers' title in both seasons.

After the 1985 season, they continued as an engine supplier. They stopped after 1986, but returned again in 1989. They left Formula One again at the end of 1997 and returned again in 2001. From 2007 to 2015, they supplied engines to various teams. Although they supplied engines to Red Bull in 2016, they show the TAG Heuer brand, and despite supplying engines to Toro Rosso in 2017, the constructor was not labeled with Renault's name. The team also currently supplies engines for McLaren starting from 2018.

They competed as Lotus from 2012 to 2015. Before then, the Caterham team ran under the Lotus name.

From 2021 onwards, the team will be known as Alpine.

## History

### 1977-1985: The beginnings of Renault

Renault's first Formula One season began in 1977, entering in the last five races of the season with Jean-Pierre Jabouille being the sole driver. The Renault RS01 failed to finish all of the races and even failed to qualify for the 1977 Canadian Grand Prix.

The team earned their first points at the 1978 United States Grand Prix, with Jabouille finishing fourth after starting 9th on the grid.

For the 1979 season, Renault signed René Arnoux to partner with Jabouille. The season was notable for a battle between Arnoux and Gilles Villeneuve at the 1979 French Grand Prix, which the team eventually won the race, with Jabouille first and Arnoux in third.

### 1986-2001: Engine supplier

Renault faded into the relative shadows in 1986, fielding only engines for Lotus and Tyrrell, with mixed success, as Ayrton Senna brought 2 wins on the way to 4th in the Drivers' and Constructors titles, but Tyrrell failed to score a podium. However, both teams ditched the French constructor for the 1987 season in favour of Ford and Honda engines.

The team would have no role in F1 until the 1989 season, when Williams, coming off a disastrous season with Judd power, switched to Renault. Results came immediately, as the Grove-based team won two races and finished 2nd in the Constructors' Championship. Results stayed largely the same in 1990 for the Grove-based team, although they dropped to 4th in the Constructors'. However Williams had a resurgence in 1991 when Riccardo Patrese and Nigel Mansell finishing 2nd and 3rd in the championship and Williams themselves taking 2nd in the constructors', before taking the titles in 1992 and 1993 with Mansell and Alain Prost, however the championships were not only dominated due to their Renault engine, but features such as active suspension and traction control, features that would be banned for the 1994 season. However, Williams were not the only team to use Renault power through the early-to-mid 90's. Ligier used the RS5 and RS6 engines between 1992 and 1994 with mixed success; 8th, 5th and 6th in the Constructors' were to be a resurgence in form for the French team.

In 1995, Renault found themselves with another major team in Benetton, the Driver's Champions the previous year, although Ligier moved to Mugen-Honda. The entire championship was Renault engine behind Williams versus Renault engine behind Benetton, and Renault engines took 15 of 16 race wins, with a single win taken by Jean Alesi's Ferrari at the 1995 Canadian Grand Prix

### 2016: The return

After a five-year absence of competing in F1 as a works entrant, Renault purchased the Lotus F1 Team. On 3 February 2016, Renault unveiled their 2016 car, the Renault RS16 in testing livery. They confirmed Kevin Magnussen and Jolyon Palmer as their race drivers, with Esteban Ocon as their reserve driver.

### 2017

For the 2017 season, the team had Nico Hülkenberg as their new driver, with Jolyon Palmer being retained for another year. For the last four races, Palmer was replaced by Carlos Sainz, Jr..

### 2018

For the 2018 season, the team had Hülkenberg and Sainz as their drivers.

### 2019

In 2019, Renault had Daniel Ricciardo as their new driver, with Hülkenberg alongside as his teammate. The 2019 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was the last race for Hülkenberg in Renault.

### 2020

After Nico Hülkenberg retired from F1 in 2019, Esteban Ocon joined with Renault in 2020, with Ricciardo as his teammate.

## Notable Personnel

### Team Principals

* Jean Sage (1977–1985)
* Flavio Briatore (2002–2009)
* Pat Symonds (2002–2009)
* Jean-Francois Caubet (2009)
* Bob Bell (2009)
* Éric Boullier (2010–2011)
* Frédéric Vasseur (2016)

### Managing Directors

* Bob Bell (2010–2011)
* Cyril Abiteboul (2016-2020)

### Technical Directors

* Francois Castaing (1977–1980)
* Michel Tetu (1981–1985)
* Bernard Dudot (1983–1985)
* Mike Gascoyne (2002–2003)
* Bob Bell (2004–2009, 2016-2020)
* James Allison (2010–2011)

### Engine Technical Directors

* Bernard Dudot (2002–2005)
* Rob White (2005–2011)
* Rémi Taffin (2016-2020)

## Renault Driver Development (2002 - 2011)

* Fabio Carbone (2002)
* Robert Kubica (2002)
* Tiago Monteiro (2002)
* Carlo van Dam (2002)
* Eric Salignon (2002 - 2003)
* Heikki Kovalainen (2002 - 2005)
* Danny Watts (2003)
* José María López (2003 - 2006)
* Giedo van der Garde (2004)
* Loïc Duval (2004 - 2005)
* Pastor Maldonado (2004 - 2005)
* Jérôme d'Ambrosio (2004) (2010)
* Lucas di Grassi (2005 - 2007)
* Ben Hanley (2006 - 2008)
* Romain Grosjean (2006 - 2009)
* Dani Clos (2007)
* Nelson Panciatici (2007)
* Marco Sørensen (2009)
* Charles Pic (2009)
* Davide Valsecchi (2009)
* Jan Charouz (2010 - 2011)
* Ho-Pin Tung (2010 - 2011)
* Fairuz Fauzy (2011)

## Renault Sport Academy (2016 - 2020)

### Current Drivers

* Max Fewtrell (2017 - 2020)
* Christian Lundgaard (2017 - 2020)
* Victor Martins (2018 - 2020)
* Anthoine Hubert (2019 - 2020)
* Guanyu Zhou (2019 - 2020)
* Caio Collett (2019 - 2020)

### Former Drivers

* Louis Delétraz (2016)
* Kevin Jörg (2016)
* Oliver Rowland (2016)
* Jack Aitken (2016 - 2018)
* Jarno Opmeer (2017)
* Sacha Fenestraz (2017 - 2018)

## Notes

1. ↑ Red Bull announces it will have TAG Heuer-branded F1 engine in 2016 (4 December 2015). Retrieved on December 6, 2015.
2. ↑ Baretto, Lawrence (29 May 2016). "Red Bull and Toro Rosso F1 teams sign Renault engine deal". *autosport.com* (Haymarket Publications). http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/124549/red-bull-and-toro-rosso-sign-renault-deal. Retrieved 28 November 2016.
3. ↑ "Toro Rosso to launch on eve of testing". *Formula1.com* (FOM). 6 February 2017. https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/headlines/2017/2/toro-rosso-to-launch-on-eve-of-testing.html. Retrieved 6 February 2017.
4. ↑ "2017 Australian Grand Prix – Entry List" (PDF). *FIA.com* (Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile). 23 March 2017. http://www.fia.com/file/54438/download?token=5cTOA5Tl. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
5. ↑ "McLaren-Honda split after three years of troubled partnership". *BBC Sport*. 15 September 2017. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/41248320. Retrieved 16 September 2017.
6. ↑ Renault Sport Formula One Team confirms driver change. Renault Sport (7 October 2017). Retrieved on October 7, 2017.