Renault in Formula One

Constructor

Renault's first Formula One entry came through its Renault Sport subsidiary, which entered the last five races of the season with Jean-Pierre Jabouille driving a single car. The Renault RS01 featured a Renault-Gordini V6 1.5 L turbocharged engine, the first regularly used turbo engine in the sport. The car and engine proved highly unreliable, earning the nickname "Yellow Teapot" and failing to finish any of its early races despite being comparatively powerful.

The team, competing as Équipe Renault Elf, intended to debut at the 1977 French Grand Prix but was not ready, delaying its first appearance until the following round. In qualifying, Jabouille placed 21st, 1.62 seconds behind pole sitter James Hunt. He ran as high as 16th in the race before a turbo failure on lap 17. After missing the German and Austrian Grands Prix for improvements, the team returned at Zandvoort, where Jabouille qualified tenth and ran sixth before suspension failure on lap 40. At Monza he qualified 20th and retired with engine failure on lap 24. At Watkins Glen he qualified 14th but retired with an alternator problem on lap 31. Jabouille failed to qualify in Canada, ending up last, over 7.5 seconds behind the fastest qualifier, and Renault did not travel to the season finale in Japan.

The following year brought four consecutive retirements from blown engines, but the team showed progress. The RS01 qualified third on the grid twice and, near the end of the season at Watkins Glen, finished its first race on the lead lap, taking fourth place and its first Formula One points.

Engine supplier (1983–2025)

Renault began manufacturing engines at the Viry-Châtillon factory in 1976, after closing the former Alpine competition department. It produced the first turbocharged engine in the category, the Renault-Gordini EF1 1.5 litres V6, at a time when naturally aspirated 3-litre engines were dominant. Initially supplying only the works team, Renault started a customer programme in 1983 with Team Lotus. Mecachrome prepared the engines for customer teams.

With designer Gérard Ducarouge, the marque became more competitive in late 1983 and 1984, as Nigel Mansell and Elio de Angelis scored regular podiums. Renault also supplied Ligier in 1984, which improved from not being classified in 1983 to scoring three points. Ayrton Senna joined Lotus in 1985, and the combination of his talent and the fast but fuel-inefficient Lotus 97T gained eight pole positions and three wins, though unreliability prevented a title challenge.

Tyrrell began using Renault engines from the seventh Grand Prix of 1985, while Ligier gained three podiums. In 1986, Johnny Dumfries partnered Senna at Lotus; the Lotus 98T took more pole positions and two wins for Senna but suffered similar reliability and fuel consumption issues. After 1985, the Renault works team ended participation but continued as an engine supplier for Ligier, Tyrrell and Lotus. The 1986 EF15B engine introduced innovations such as static ignition and pneumatic valve return.

Renault stopped its engine program at the end of 1986, having scored 19 pole positions and 5 Grand Prix victories with customer teams.