With 51 pole positions, 35 race victories and four World Championships with a few near-misses, Renault as a manufacturer was one of the most successful names in Formula One between 1977 and 2009, which includes a break from 1986 until 2001. Now, if rumours are to be believed, a Renault return to Formula One could well be back on the cards. With names behind the wheels of their cars including Alain Prost, Rene Arnoux, Jacques Villeneuve, Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso – the latter securing his two World Drivers’ Championship with Renault, the names in the car were as big as the name on the car itself. With their multiple World Championship winning marriage derailing, the French manufacturer could well buy out the team which it sold just five years ago.
Turbocharged eras in Formula One are not uncommon for Renault, especially as they kicked off the previous turbo era way back in 1977, fielding a single turbocharged V6 engine for Jean-Pierre Jabouille. It took just three years for the project to begin to see some success, as Jabouille and new team mate Rene Arnoux took six pole positions and four podiums which included a win at home at Dijon in 1979. A near miss for Alain Prost in 1983 was the only realistic championship challenge for Renault, who scrapped their works cars at the end of 1985, and their engines a year later.
It did not take Renault long to return however, as at the end of the turbo era, came the V10 era, and straight from the off, Renault paired up with the Williams team, which had left Honda two seasons prior. Williams and Renault notched all bar one titles across the next three seasons, including powering Prost to his final title. By 1995, Renault was also supplying the Benetton team, and finished first and second in both championships with their two teams, but Williams fought back hard in 1996 and 1997. In short: except for one Drivers’ Championship which went to Ford in 1994, Renault won every single title between 1992 and 1997, and then the name disappeared again.
Badged as ‘Playlife’, the Renault engines achieved very little between 1998 and 2000, however the Renault name was soon to return. For 2001, Renault bought out the Benetton team, and from 2002 onwards, became the full Renault works team. Once again, championship success took time, but very quick and very reliable cars saw titles for both team and driver (in this case, Fernando Alonso) in 2005 and 2006, despite a switch to V8 engines for the latter. However a sharp decline occurred in 2007 and even Alonso’s return after his dismal year with McLaren for 2008 wasn’t enough to improve matters much. Renault pulled the plug once again on their factory efforts after it emerged that Nelson Piquet Jr. had crashed deliberately in the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, but by that time, they were supplying Newey’s new team – Red Bull Racing. As the V8 era came to a close, Red Bull and Renault took hold of the sport, winning eight championships from eight attempts between 2010 and 2013. All was to change though for 2014, as a new turbo-hybrid era was born, and Renault was well and truly caught off guard. An underpowered and an unreliable power unit has seen the team take just 14 podiums in this era, despite supplying four teams in 2014 and a much-reduced two teams in 2015. Rumours that Renault will pull the plug on F1 completely still linger but it seems more likely that they will take the odd decision to increase their efforts even more now.
Red Bull and Renault have a contract for at least another full season, and it seems that both parties will honour that contract. However with Audi linked into a possible buy-out of Red Bull, it might be likely that the contract will not be renewed for 2017, especially as both parties of a once-happy marriage seems to be publically criticising one-another.
The Red Bull quit threats earlier in the year hinted towards selling the two associated teams to two different manufacturers – Audi and Renault for Red Bull and Toro Rosso respectively, but those threats seem to have died down. Since then, Renault has been linked with buying back the team which it sold to Genii Capital back in 2010 – Lotus F1. It has been made pretty clear that over the past few seasons, Lotus are not sound financially. Starting off back in 2013 by supposedly failing to pay Kimi Räikkönen his wages, a series of public money-related stories have emerged about the team, and hiring Pastor Maldonado – a driver renowned for having substantial backing from Venezuelan government, does not make the situation appear any better. Their on-track performance last year was also woeful, taking a meagre ten points.
Renault have taken two very interesting steps lately: removing their backing from what is currently the World Series by Renault junior categories and by starting up their own young driver program once again. The former would hint towards dropping out of F1 completely whilst the latter would strongly suggest that they would increase their efforts. However there seems to be good reason for starting up a driver programme at this point.
Despite the tragic loss of Jules Bianchi, there is a large amount of French talent around at the moment. The obvious name is Romain Grosjean, who currently drives for Lotus. He is having a very under-rated season, and seems to be all for a Renault return to F1. Jean-Eric Vergne is also active in F1 despite being dropped by Toro Rosso at the end of 2014 as he is currently one of two development drivers at Ferrari. The Frenchman has also been making waves in Formula E with Andretti. In the junior categories, you will find the Red Bull-backed Pierre Gasly, reigning European Formula Three Champion Esteban Ocon, Formula Renault 3.5 championship contender Matthieu Vaxiviere and in the world of IndyCar, you will find Penske’s Simon Pagenaud and the 2013 Rookie of the Year, Tristan Vautier.
There’s no guarantee that it would be plain-sailing though. Renault’s power unit has been woeful since the start of this current era, with a lack of performance, reliability and driveability being three key factors in securing just three wins since the start of 2014 compared to Mercedes’ 24, and each of those three wins occurred on days where Mercedes tripped over themselves. Renault would need to do a substantial amount of work to catch up and pass Mercedes in what is now a power unit-dominated formula.
Ultimately, I believe that the time is right for a Renault return though. It has been made clear that if you are to succeed in what is now the modern Formula One, you must be a manufacturer, or be working incredibly closely with one. McLaren-Honda have made very swift strides in the short time that they have been partners, and the Mercedes and Ferrari works teams have won absolutely everything this year. With a large array of French stars, the global financial status finally beginning to ease following the 2008 crash and known quantities at Lotus should they be the team taken over, Renault could well return to the glory days of Arnoux and Prost, or the even more glorious days of Alonso and Fisichella.
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