Équipe Renault (1977–1985) 1977–1978: Laying a foundation for turbo revolution Renault's first involvement in Formula One was made by the
Renault Sport subsidiary. Renault entered the last five races of with
Jean-Pierre Jabouille in its only car. The
Renault RS01 was well known for its Renault-
Gordini V6 1.5
L turbocharged engine, the first regularly used turbo engine in Formula One history. Jabouille's car and engine proved highly unreliable and became something of a joke during its first races, earning the nickname of "Yellow Teapot" and failing to finish any of its races despite being comparatively powerful. The first race the team, under the name Équipe Renault Elf, entered was the
1977 French Grand Prix, the ninth round of the season, but the car was not yet ready. The team's début was delayed until the following round, the . The car's first qualifying session was not a success, and Jabouille qualified 21st out of the 30 runners and 26 starters, 1.62 seconds behind pole sitter
James Hunt in the
McLaren. Jabouille ran well in the race, running as high as 16th before the car's turbo failed on lap 17. The team missed the
German and
Austrian Grands Prix as the car was being improved after its British disappointment. They returned for the , and the qualifying performance was much improved as Jabouille qualified tenth. He had a poor start but ran as high as sixth before the suspension failed on lap 40. The team's poor qualifying form returned in
Italy, as Jabouille qualified 20th. He ran outside the top 10 until his engine failed on lap 24, continuing their awful run of reliability. Things improved at
Watkins Glen for the as Jabouille qualified 14th, but the good pace from
Zandvoort seemed to be gone as he once again ran outside the top 10 before retiring with yet another reliability problem, this time the alternator, on lap 31. Jabouille failed to qualify in
Canada; as 27 drivers entered the race, only one would not qualify, and this was Jabouille as he ended up last, over 7.5 seconds behind the fastest qualifier
Mario Andretti of
Lotus, and almost two seconds behind his nearest rival,
Rupert Keegan, in the
Hesketh. After this, Renault did not travel to the
season finale in Japan. The following year was hardly better, characterised by four consecutive retirements caused by blown engines, but near the end of the year, the team showed signs of success. Twice, the RS01 qualified 3rd on the grid and while finishing was still something of an issue, it managed to finish its first race on the lead lap at
Watkins Glen near the end of , giving the team a fourth-place finish and its first Formula One points. The team did not enter the first two races of 1978, in
Argentina and
Brazil, but returned for the at
Kyalami. Jabouille secured Renault's best qualifying position to date, with sixth place, just 0.71 seconds behind polesitter
Niki Lauda in the
Brabham. He dropped out of the points early in the race before retiring with electrical problems on lap 39. At
Long Beach, Jabouille qualified 13th but retired as the turbo failed again on lap 44. He was twelfth in qualifying for the team's
first Monaco Grand Prix, and gave the team their first finish in Formula One, finishing in tenth place four laps down on race-winner
Tyrrell's
Patrick Depailler.
1979 season: Win breakthrough on home soil car to win a Grand Prix. Expanding to two drivers with
René Arnoux joining Jabouille, the team continued to struggle although Jabouille earned a
pole position in
South Africa. By mid-season, both drivers had a new
ground-effect car, the RS10, and at
Dijon for the
French Grand Prix the team legitimised itself with a brilliant performance in a classic race. The two Renaults were on the front row in qualifying, and pole-sitter Jabouille won the race, the first driver in a turbocharged car to do so, while Arnoux and
Gilles Villeneuve were involved in an extremely competitive duel for second, Arnoux narrowly getting beaten to the line. While Jabouille ran into hard times after that race, Arnoux finished second at
Silverstone in the following race and then repeated that at the Glen, proving it was not a fluke.
1980–1983 seasons: Becoming an established frontrunner finished second in the 1983 championship with the Renault RE40. Arnoux furthered this in with consecutive wins in
Brazil and
South Africa, both on high altitude circuits where the Renaults were dominant. Jabouille continued to have problems with retirements, but in his only points finish he emerged victorious in
Austria. At the end of the year, Jabouille crashed heavily at the
Canadian GP and suffered serious leg injuries, which effectively ended his career as a Grand Prix driver.
Alain Prost was signed up for . In his three years with the team, Prost showed the form that would make him a Formula One legend and the Renaults were among the best in Formula One, twice finishing third in the Constructors' Championships and once second. Prost won nine races with the team, while Arnoux added two more in . Arnoux left for rival
Ferrari after 1982 and was replaced by American
Eddie Cheever. In , Renault and Prost came very close to winning the drivers' title but were edged out by
Nelson Piquet (
Brabham-
BMW) at the last race of the season in
South Africa. After the end of the season, a rival fuel company said that the fuel used by the Brabham-BMWs in South Africa had exceeded the maximum
Research Octane Number of 102 permitted under the Formula One regulations. BMW said that this was incorrect and FISA released a dossier supporting their stance. No action was taken.
1984–1985 seasons: Post-Prost decline and works team exit Prost was fired two days after the 1983 season following his public comments about the team's lack of development of the
Renault RE40 which resulted in his loss to Piquet and the team's loss to Ferrari in the 1983 championship. He subsequently joined
McLaren, while Cheever left to join
Alfa Romeo. The team turned to Frenchman
Patrick Tambay (who had left Ferrari) and Englishman
Derek Warwick (formerly of
Toleman) to bring them back to prominence. Despite a few good results, including Tambay giving the team its last pole position at the
1984 French Grand Prix at Dijon, the team was not as competitive in and as in the past, with other teams doing a better job with turbo engines, or more specifically
Lotus and to a lesser extent
Ligier. provided another F1 first, as the team ran a third car in
Germany at the new
Nürburgring that featured the first in-car camera which could be viewed live by a television audience. Driven by Frenchman
François Hesnault, the car only lasted 8 laps before a clutch problem forced it to retire (the last race on which a team entered three cars for a race). In 1985, major financial problems emerged at Renault and the company could no longer justify the large expenses needed to maintain the racing team's competitiveness. CEO
Georges Besse pared down the company's involvement in F1 from full-fledged racing team to engine supplier for the season before taking it entirely out of F1 at the end of that year.
Renault F1 Team and Lotus Renault GP (2002–2011): The rise and fall of the first Enstone era Purchase of and transition from Benetton Formula (2000–2001) On 16 March 2000, the
Renault-Nissan Alliance through the Renault brand purchased Benetton Formula Limited for $120 million, to return to Formula One. The history of the team acquired by Renault started in 1981 as the
Toleman Motorsport team, based in
Witney, Oxfordshire, England. In 1986, the team was renamed to
Benetton Formula, following its purchase in 1985 by the
Benetton family. In 1992/3 the team moved a few miles to a new base in
Enstone. Renault continued to use the Benetton constructor name for the and the seasons, with the Renault name returning in 2001 as an engine brand. When reporting the purchase the
International Herald Tribune commented that "the team will not race under the Renault name until it is ready to win and reap the marketing benefits". It was not until 2002 that this name change occurred.
First seasons under a new name (2002–2004) at the
2002 British Grand Prix In , Benetton was rebranded as Renault F1 and contested the season with drivers
Jarno Trulli and
Jenson Button who scored 23 points during the season. As a result of rebranding, Renault received a
French nationality license instead of
Italian. driving for Renault at the
2003 United States Grand Prix. Despite outscoring his teammate during 2002, Button was dropped by Renault in . His replacement was Spain's
Fernando Alonso, who had been considered impressive as a test driver the previous year. Alonso won the
2003 Hungarian Grand Prix, the first time Renault had won a Grand Prix since the
1983 Austrian Grand Prix. Renault was innovative during this period producing non-standard designs such as the 111° 10-cylinder engine for the 2003 RS23 which was designed to effectively lower the centre of gravity of the engine and thus improve the car's handling. This eventually proved too unreliable and heavy, so Renault returned to a more conventional development route. driving for Renault at the
2004 United States Grand Prix. In , the team were contenders for second place in the Constructors' Championship. Trulli won the
Monaco Grand Prix, but his relationship with Renault (particularly with team principal and Trulli's ex-manager
Flavio Briatore) deteriorated after he was consistently off the pace in the latter half of the year, and made claims of favouritism in the team towards Alonso (though the two teammates themselves remained friendly). Commentators regularly point to the
French Grand Prix as the final straw for Briatore, where Trulli was overtaken by
Rubens Barrichello in the final stages of the last lap, costing Renault a double podium finish at their home Grand Prix. He subsequently announced he was joining
Toyota for the following year and in fact left Renault early, driving the Toyota in the last two races of the 2004 season. Hoping to secure second place in the Constructors' Championship, Renault replaced Trulli with World Champion
Jacques Villeneuve for the final three races. However, Villeneuve – away from F1 racing for almost an entire season and struggling to acclimatise quickly to racing at the premier level – did not impress, and the team finished third behind Villeneuve's former team
BAR.
Back to back double championship success (2005–2006) driving for Renault at the
2005 British Grand Prix.
Giancarlo Fisichella was Trulli's replacement for the season. He took advantage of a rain-affected qualifying session to win the first race of the season, the
Australian Grand Prix.
Fernando Alonso then won the next three races to build a considerable lead in the Drivers' World Championship, thereby doing the same for Renault in the Constructors' Championship. Meanwhile, Fisichella failed to finish several races. After the
San Marino Grand Prix, Renault and Alonso's championship leads came under attack from a fast-but-fragile
McLaren-
Mercedes team and Kimi Räikkönen respectively for the Drivers' Championship. McLaren took the lead of the Constructors' World Championship by securing a one-two finish at the
Brazilian Grand Prix, but that was to be the race in which Alonso secured the Drivers' title, becoming the youngest ever driver to do so. This achievement was followed by a win in
China to secure the Constructors' World Championship for Renault after McLaren driver
Juan Pablo Montoya's car was badly damaged by a drain cover coming loose on the track. This broke
Ferrari's six-year stranglehold on that title. It was the first time Renault had won the title as a manufacturer, and Renault became only the second French constructor (after the triumph of
Matra in ) and the first
French-licensed team to win the title. in Formula One. won the
2006 Malaysian Grand Prix for Renault.
Fernando Alonso and
Giancarlo Fisichella were retained for 2006, while test driver
Franck Montagny was replaced by
Heikki Kovalainen. The team's 2006 contender, the R26 – featuring a seven-speed gearbox made of
titanium, was unveiled at a launch event on 31 January. Alonso won the opening
Bahrain Grand Prix as well as the
Australian Grand Prix and finished second in
Malaysia behind teammate Fisichella to claim Renault's first one-two finish since
René Arnoux and
Alain Prost in 1982. Alonso took two more second places, and then wins at his home Grand Prix in
Spain, and at the
Monaco Grand Prix. Fisichella took 8th, 6th and 3rd-place finishes in the
San Marino Grand Prix,
European Grand Prix and the
Spanish Grand Prix. The team celebrated its 200th Grand Prix at Silverstone, which was won by Alonso. As the season progressed to its North American stint, Alonso won the
Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal, Canada. At the
U.S Grand Prix, Ferrari had a distinct performance advantage over the whole weekend. However, Renault were the fastest of all the
Michelin runners. Fisichella finished 3rd, while Alonso finished 5th. on his way to victory at the
2006 Canadian Grand Prix. At the
French Grand Prix, Renault was expected to be faster than Ferrari, but Ferrari again had the advantage. Alonso ran third for most of the race, unable to challenge the Ferraris of Schumacher and Massa. However, a tactical switch to a two-stop strategy enabled him to pass Massa and finish second. On 21 July 2006, the FIA banned the use of
mass damper systems, developed and first used by Renault and subsequently used by 7 other teams, including Ferrari. Flavio Briatore claimed that
McLaren had raised the issue of the system's legality with the FIA. The system used a spring-mounted mass in the nose cone to reduce the sensitivity of the car to vibration. This was particularly effective in corners and over kerbs to keep the tyres in closer contact to the track surface than they would otherwise be. However race stewards at the
German Grand Prix deemed the system legal. The FIA announced its intention to appeal that decision and Renault announced they would not race with the system for fear of retrospective punishment if the appeal was upheld. Renault's performance at the German Grand Prix was one of their worst of the season; however, the team blamed blistering of their Michelin tyres rather than the loss of the mass damper system. The FIA International Court of Appeal met in Paris on 22 August 2006, to examine the appeal made by the FIA against the decision of the German Grand Prix stewards. The Court ruled that the use of the device known as a Tuned Mass Damper is an infringement of Article 3.15 of the Formula One Technical Regulations. Points scored in the
Brazilian Grand Prix secured the Constructors' Championship for Renault in 2006. On 16 October 2006, Renault announced that the Dutch banking giant
ING would replace
Mild Seven as title sponsor for three years starting in .
Decline in fortunes and race-fixing scandal (2007–2009) driving for Renault at the
2007 Malaysian Grand Prix. Renault confirmed
Giancarlo Fisichella and
Heikki Kovalainen as their race drivers for 2007 with
Nelson Piquet Jr. and
Ricardo Zonta as test drivers. The car for 2007, the
R27, was unveiled on 24 January 2007 in Amsterdam and bore a new yellow, blue, orange and white livery in deference to the corporate colours of ING, the Dutch financial group based in Amsterdam. Renault engines were also supplied to the
Red Bull Racing team for the 2007 season. Renault struggled in comparison to their form in previous seasons in
Australia, with
Giancarlo Fisichella finishing the race in 5th place. Rookie
Heikki Kovalainen struggled even more than the Italian, spinning his car as he chased
Toyota's Ralf Schumacher and ending up in 10th place. Results did not improve until the start of the European season, although both drivers finished in the points in the next race at
Malaysia. Heikki Kovalainen struggled in
Bahrain too, although the gap between himself and Fisichella at the end of the race was not as great as was seen at Melbourne, with Fisichella finishing only 8th. The team's pace began to pick up in Barcelona, with both drivers making it into Q3, setting competitive lap times in the race (4th fastest lap for Kovalainen) and looking set for 5th and 8th, only to be hampered by an identical problem on both fuel rigs, forcing both drivers to make extra pitstops which dropped them back to 7th and 9th. This glimmer of hope proved a false dawn and the Renault team never posed a serious threat to the dominant
Ferrari and
McLaren teams for the remainder of the 2007 season and were also often outclassed by the much improved
BMW Sauber team. In contrast to the back to back drivers and constructors championship wins of the previous two seasons, 2007 would see the Renault team score just one podium all season courtesy of rookie Kovalainen who finished in second place behind fellow rookie
Lewis Hamilton at the rain soaked
Japanese Grand Prix at
Fuji Speedway. The team would place a distant third in the 2007 constructors standings with 51 points well behind Ferrari and BMW Sauber in terms of points scored whilst also benefitting from McLaren's expulsion from the constructors standings due to the
Formula One espionage controversy. On 8 November 2007, the
FIA accused Renault F1 of having
McLaren F1 technical information in their possession. According to the charge, the information in hand "''included the layout and critical dimensions of the McLaren car as well as details of McLaren's fuelling system, gear assembly, hydraulic control system and suspension''". The hearing on this matter took place in
Monaco on 6 December 2007. The charge faced by Renault F1 – breaching of article 151c of the Sporting Regulations – was the same as that faced by McLaren earlier on in 2007 in the
espionage controversy involving Ferrari & McLaren. The FIA found Renault F1 in breach of article 151c but did not penalise the team. cruising to victory at the
2008 Singapore Grand Prix. It was announced on 10 December 2007 that
Fernando Alonso would rejoin with Renault F1 for . Alonso drove alongside promoted test driver
Nelson Piquet Jr. and was believed to have secured number one status within the team. The team similarly started in 2008 as the year before; Fernando Alonso managed to garner fourth at the opening
Australian Grand Prix as a result of a mistake from a previous Renault employee Heikki Kovalainen. However, the form was still short of 2006 by a large degree over the first half of the 2008 season. The team brought new parts to the
Spanish Grand Prix, including a new engine-cover, dubbed the "Shark-fin", similar to the one introduced by Red Bull on their
RB4. Alonso managed to qualify on the front row for that race on a light fuel-load, yet retired with an engine failure halfway through. Alonso's front row qualifying performance in Spain was a rare moment of achievement from the former World Champion. Both cars retired at the
Canadian Grand Prix and
Nelson Piquet Jr., who retired from six of the first nine races, failed to score until the
French Grand Prix. The
German Grand Prix heralded a change in the team's fortune. Piquet Jr. benefited from the deployment of the safety car to secure Renault's first podium of the year with a second. Both drivers scored at the
Hungarian Grand Prix although they failed to pick up anything at Valencia two weeks later. Two fourth places for Alonso in Belgium and Italy were a prelude to the
Singapore Grand Prix, in which Alonso profited from the early crash of his teammate (later revealed to be a deliberate crash to aid the Spaniard. See:
Renault Formula One crash controversy) to claim his first victory of the season, and Renault's first since the
2006 Japanese Grand Prix. This victory made Alonso and Renault the first-ever winners of a Formula One race held under floodlights. Renault underlined their return to the front at the subsequent
Japanese Grand Prix, in which Alonso steered clear of
Lewis Hamilton's first-corner mistake to record another win. Piquet Jr. finished fourth in the team's best performance of the season. Further double points finish in
China was followed by Alonso's second-place finish at the season-ending
Brazilian Grand Prix. The
Renault R28 was believed by many insiders to have overtaken
BMW Sauber by season's end as the closest challenger to the domination of the sport by Ferrari and McLaren. driving for Renault at the
2009 Japanese Grand Prix. Renault entered the season with high hopes of challenging both world titles. Although Alonso managed four points finishes in the first six races, it was soon clear that this target was unrealistic. By mid-season, it appeared as though Renault were making progress, with Alonso setting the fastest lap in
Germany and securing pole position in
Hungary, albeit on a light fuel load. However, Alonso was forced to retire early in Hungary due to a fuel pump failure, after a front wheel came loose as it was incorrectly fitted at his first pit stop. At
Belgium Alonso again looked like scoring a podium for the team but had to retire with another problem with one of his wheels which was damaged as a result of a first-lap clash with
Adrian Sutil. Piquet performed poorly in the first half of the season and was replaced by
Romain Grosjean for the last third of the season. Neither Piquet nor Grosjean managed to score a point. A podium in
Singapore was little consolation in what had been a frustrating and controversial season for the team. Renault had been suspended for one race (the 2009 European Grand Prix) due to the incident involving
Fernando Alonso's wheel not being fitted properly in the
2009 Hungarian Grand Prix, however, this has been overturned on appeal following a decision from the FIA on 17 August 2009. On 4 August,
Nelson Piquet Jr. was told by Renault he would not continue driving for them for the rest of the season. "I have received notice from Renault of its intention to stop me from driving for them in the current F1 season", read a statement on Piquet's website. Piquet had described the season as "the worst period of my career" and had criticised team boss
Flavio Briatore. He was replaced by test driver
Romain Grosjean as of the . After his first podium of the year in Singapore,
Fernando Alonso confirmed that he would be leaving Renault, moving to
Ferrari in 2010. ;Race rigging allegations During the 2009 season, the actions of Renault F1 during the 2008 season were examined over alleged race-fixing. The issue surrounded
Nelson Piquet Jr.'s crash during the
2008 Singapore Grand Prix which Renault teammate
Fernando Alonso went on to win. At the time, Piquet Jr. had characterised the incident as a simple mistake. After Piquet Jr. left the Renault team in August 2009, allegations surfaced that this crash had been deliberate, to give an advantage to Alonso. Following a
Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) investigation in which Piquet Jr. stated he had been asked by Renault team principal
Flavio Briatore and engineer
Pat Symonds to stage the crash, on 4 September 2009 Renault were charged with conspiracy and race-fixing and were due to face the
FIA World Motor Sport Council in Paris on 21 September 2009. Initially, Renault and Briatore stated they would take legal action against Piquet Jr. for making false allegations, however, before the meeting, Renault announced they would not contest the charges, and that Briatore and Symonds had left the team. At the meeting, the Council banned Renault from Formula One, but suspended this sanction for two years, meaning Renault would have been thrown out of Formula One if a similar incident occurred before the end of the 2011 season. FIA stated that Renault would have likely been thrown out of Formula One if it had not taken swift action in pushing out Briatore and Symonds. At the same meeting, Briatore was banned from FIA events for life, while Symonds received a five-year ban. The bans on Briatore and Symonds were subsequently overturned by a French court in 2010. FIA, Briatore and Symonds reached a settlement that allowed Briatore and Symonds to return to FIA in 2011 and to Formula One in 2013.
Team sale amid Kubica promise (2010) driving for Renault at the
2010 Malaysian Grand Prix. In 2010, Renault sold a majority stake in the team to
Genii Capital, a
Luxembourg based investment company. However Renault still retained a 25% share in the team and continued as an engine supplier.
Red Bull Racing confirmed they would be using Renault engines for .
Robert Kubica was signed as Alonso's replacement on 7 October 2009, but following the shareholding deal, Kubica and his manager Daniel Morelli asked for clarification on the management structure before committing to the outfit. However, in the new year, clarification was sought and Kubica was ready to commit to the outfit. On 31 January,
Vitaly Petrov was signed to be Kubica's teammate, becoming
Russia's first Formula One driver. On 5 January,
Éric Boullier was announced as the new team principal at Renault, replacing
Bob Bell, who would return to his former role as Technical Director. in the Senna corner at the
2010 Canadian Grand Prix. At the opening round in
Bahrain, Petrov retired with broken suspension while in the pit lane on lap 14, and Kubica finished in eleventh place. Kubica took his first podium with the team, with a second-place finish in
Australia. Petrov retired from the race, after spinning off the circuit. Kubica finished the next 3 races in the points, a 4th place in
Malaysia, 5th place in
Shanghai, and 8th place in
Barcelona. Petrov meanwhile scored his first points in Formula 1 in China with his 7th place, it could have been more, but he spun off whilst in fourth, yet he still recovered to bring some points home. After setting fast times on Thursday and the fastest time in Saturday's practice session, followed by 2nd place in qualifying, Kubica finished in 3rd place in
Monaco, just 1.6 seconds behind the winner. Petrov retired in the closing laps of the race but was still classified 13th.
Vitaly Petrov was out-qualified and out-raced by
Robert Kubica at almost every race. However, Petrov did find considerable form at the when he out-qualified Kubica for the first time and finished the race 5th. However, in
Belgium, Petrov made a mistake that ended with a crash in the first session of qualifying when he explored the kerbs at Liege corner, claiming he was testing to see how wet they were and if they were usable on his flying lap. His failure to set a time placed him 24th on the grid, though a gearbox penalty to Sauber's
Pedro de la Rosa promoted him to 23rd. However, he went on to finish ninth, resulting in three consecutive points finishes in a row. In
Singapore, Petrov was running seventh before being pushed off by
Nico Hülkenberg, whilst Kubica was forced to make an unscheduled stop late in the race with a puncture, before going on to recover almost every place he had lost. Rumours had tipped World Champion
Kimi Räikkönen to replace Petrov for , but the Finn angrily rejected claims he would join the team, stating that he was upset Renault was using his name for their image and that their actions meant he would not race for them.
Lotus Renault GP: Renault steps back (2011) leads
Heikki Kovalainen (
Team Lotus) at the
2011 Malaysian Grand Prix, Group Lotus's sponsorship of Renault in led to a court dispute over naming rights between the two teams. On 5 November 2010,
Autosport reported that Renault was poised to scale back its involvement in 2011 and become only an engine supplier, with the team closing in on a tie-up with
Lotus Cars to buy its 25% stake in the team. The deal was finalised in early December 2010, with the team to be renamed Lotus Renault GP for 2011, under a sponsorship deal signed with Lotus Cars until 2017. Renault continued to support the team by supplying engines and its expertise and thus
Red Bull Racing was promoted to Renault's full-works partnership team. The Renault chassis name continued to be used, with Renault branding featuring in the new black and gold livery that was last used when Renault and Lotus joined forces in the 1980s, harking back to the John Player Special livery of the time. Despite being rebranded to Lotus, Renault still supplied free engines for the Lotus team until 2014. During 2011, the team raced against another team that was using the Lotus name. The team which raced in the 2010 season as
Lotus Racing (using a licence from Group Lotus which was later terminated by Group Lotus) rebranded itself as "Team Lotus" for the 2011 season after purchasing the privately owned rights to the historic name. In January 2011, team principal
Éric Boullier announced that the team would race under a
British licence in , having raced as a French outfit since Renault took over in . This left the sport without any team racing under a French licence for the first time since the season. Group Lotus had yet to purchase a stake in the team, but had an option to do so by the end of . Along with the launch of their new car, Lotus Renault GP announced that they had hired
Jean Alesi as an ambassador for the team and test driver for the T125 single-seater project. On 6 February 2011,
Robert Kubica was severely injured in an accident during a rally in Italy. It was unclear if he would be able to return to Formula One during the 2011 season. On 16 February, it was announced that
Nick Heidfeld was signed as Kubica's replacement, while Kubica still remained signed with the team for 2011. At the , Petrov took his first and only podium in Formula One, finishing third, and Heidfeld finished twelfth with a damaged car. Heidfeld finished third in the next race in
Malaysia, while Petrov retired late on; he hit a bump caused by a drainage gully which launched his car into the air and broke the car's steering column on landing. In the
Chinese Grand Prix, Petrov finished ninth having started tenth after a mechanical problem in qualifying, with Heidfeld finishing twelfth. Heidfeld and Petrov finished seventh and eighth in
Turkey, as the team's early-season performance began to fade. Heidfeld finished ninth in
Spain after missing qualifying due to a fire in practice, while Petrov finished just outside the points in eleventh place. Heidfeld scored more points in
Monaco with eighth place, while Petrov retired after being caught up in an accident involving several other cars. Petrov finished fifth in the rain-affected , with Heidfeld retiring after damaging his car's front wing in a collision with
Kamui Kobayashi. The team endured a difficult weekend in Valencia, as Heidfeld scored a single point for tenth place and Petrov finished 15th. New restrictions over the use of off-throttle blown diffusers were introduced for the , and the team was badly affected having designed their car around the system. Heidfeld managed 8th place in the race, with Petrov 12th. Heidfeld was replaced by
Bruno Senna for the in August. On 29 November 2011, the team confirmed that they had hired
Kimi Räikkönen to drive full-time in 2012. On 9 December 2011, the team also confirmed that
Romain Grosjean would join Räikkönen in 2012. During the 2012 season, the team would be known as the
Lotus F1 Team.
Renault Sport Formula One Team and Renault F1 Team (2016–2020): The second Enstone era 2016 season: Struggles in first season back driving for Renault at the
2016 Malaysian Grand Prix On 28 September 2015, Renault Sport F1 announced that a letter of intent between Renault Group and Gravity Motorsports which is owned by
Genii Capital had been signed and over the following weeks a takeover transaction would be discussed for the
Lotus F1 Team (also known as
Team Enstone which was previously owned by Renault until 2010) in hopes that the team would compete in the season as Renault Sport Formula One Team in response to the collapse of Renault's relationship with
Red Bull. It was speculated that F1 veteran
Alain Prost, who drove for Renault from 1981 to 1983, could take a senior role in the team. On 3 December 2015, Renault announced that they had purchased the Lotus F1 Team and were preparing for the 2016 season with further information to be released in early 2016. As Renault returned to Formula One as a full-works constructor team,
Red Bull Racing was officially demoted to Renault's customer team and thus received
TAG Heuer rebadging sponsorship from 2016 to 2018 seasons. On 3 February 2016, Renault unveiled the testing livery for their 2016 car, the
Renault R.S.16, and confirmed
Kevin Magnussen and
Jolyon Palmer as its two race drivers, 2015 GP3 champion
Esteban Ocon as its reserve driver,
Carmen Jordá as its development driver, and that multiple drivers, including 2015 Formula Renault 3.5 champion
Oliver Rowland,
Jack Aitken,
Louis Delétraz and
Kevin Jörg are a part of its
driver academy. Additionally,
Bob Bell (formerly of
Mercedes,
Marussia and the previous incarnation of Renault) was confirmed as the team's chief technical officer and
Frédéric Vasseur (of
ART Grand Prix) as the new racing director. Renault Sport F1 is mainly partnered with the
Renault-Nissan Alliance. However it also has other sponsorships with partners including Bell & Ross,
Devialet,
EMC,
Genii Capital,
Infiniti,
Total,
CD-adapco,
Microsoft,
Pirelli,
OZ Racing and
Jack & Jones. The team finished the season in ninth place with 8 points.
2017 season: Improved results driving for Renault at the
2017 Malaysian Grand Prix On 11 January 2017,
Frédéric Vasseur left the team after disagreements with team personnel, therefore the team was managed by president
Jérôme Stoll and managing director
Cyril Abiteboul. On 14 October 2016, it was announced that
Nico Hülkenberg would join the team for the season.
Kevin Magnussen later chose to leave the team to join
Haas, with
Jolyon Palmer remaining at the team for a second season, but was replaced by
Carlos Sainz Jr. from the onwards, after only one point scoring finish. Sainz had a good debut at the United States Grand Prix, finishing seventh and out qualifying his teammate who retired from the race. The team finished the season in sixth place with 57 points.
2018 season: Best result in the Constructors' Championship Nico Hülkenberg continued to drive for Renault in 2018 as he had signed a multi-year deal the year before. After joining the team mid-season in 2017,
Carlos Sainz Jr. continued to drive for them in 2018. They finished 4th in the championship with 122 points.
2019 season: Ricciardo-era starts driving for Renault 2019 driving for Renault at the
2019 Japanese Grand Prix On 3 August 2018, it was announced that
Red Bull Racing driver
Daniel Ricciardo would be joining the team on a two-year deal to partner Hülkenberg. Plagued by reliability issues at the start of the season, and aerodynamic poor performance, the team finished 5th in the Constructors' Championship, failing to escape the midfield. Also of note was the
2019 Japanese Grand Prix, which the team was disqualified from as a result of their automatic
brake balance changing system, which was deemed illegal. At the end of the season, the team announced changes to the aerodynamic department of their team as a result of the
R.S.19's failures. Chassis Technical Director
Nick Chester would leave the team, with former
Ferrari and
McLaren chassis engineer
Pat Fry and former
Williams and
Ferrari aerodynamicist
Dirk de Beer to join the team.
2020 season: Return to podium and final year of Renault F1 Team Former
Racing Point Force India driver and Mercedes reserve driver
Esteban Ocon joined Renault for the 2020 season, on a multiple-year contract, replacing
Nico Hülkenberg. The start of the 2020 season was postponed until July in response to the
COVID-19 pandemic. In
Belgium, Renault finished 4th and 5th, scoring 23 points in one single race, their most in any race ever as a constructor and their first fastest lap for a decade. At the
Eifel Grand Prix raced on the Nürburgring circuit, Ricciardo scored a third-place finish with his
R.S.20, the team's first podium since Malaysia 2011. Ricciardo also scored a third-place finish at the
Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. Ocon also scored a second-place finish at the
Sakhir Grand Prix, his first podium and Renault's third of the season. Ricciardo finished 5th in the World Drivers' Championship standings, while Ocon finished 12th. Renault finished 5th in the World Constructors' Championship standings with 181 points. Renault was rebranded as
Alpine for the 2021 season. == Engine supplier (1983–2025) ==