Renault
Nationality - French
Debut in F1 - 1977
Drivers' Titles - 0
Constructors' Titles - 0
Current Drivers -
Fernando Alonso, Jarno
Trulli
Team History
Renault made its Formula 1 debut in 1977. The original turbo engine
car that was launched proved to be unreliable. In fact it was not
until the end of the 1978 season did Jabouille record Renaults first
points coming 4th in Watkins Glen.
Despite improvements Renault still lacked in competitiveness. However
1979 did see Jabouille achieve Renault's first GP win in Dijon and
4 poles and team mate Arnoux achieving 2 poles. The improved performance
continued in 1980 with the team notching up a total of 3 wins and
a number of poles.
Alain Prost joined the team in 1981 and the team enjoyed 6 podiums
that included 3 wins. By 1982 this level of performance was becoming
habit scoring 4 wins and a number of podiums and 1993 yielding another
similar result. The Renault was proving to be fast, but still was
not forming any challenge in the championship because the performances
were so inconsistent.
In 1983 Renault also began supplying turbo engines to Lotus, and
later Ligier and Tyrrell. In the following seasons in 1984 and 1985
Renault experienced truly dismal results and quit F1 to focus on
supplying engines.
However in 2002 Renault made a comeback into F1 with Jenson Button
and Jarno
Trulli in the driver's seats. Despite coming 4th place the team
only notched up a dismal 23 points. In 2003 Fernando
Alonso replaced Button, and Renault again finished up in 4th
place overall. However Renault demonstrated a much more competitive
performance with a Grand prix win in Hungary, 2 poles, 5 podiums
and 88 points.
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