The iconic Renault team has been supplying Formula One engines for over 40 years, with success for a number of different marques, including their own team.
First era: Factory team (1977-1985)
Debuting in F1 in 1977 with the first ever turbocharged engine, Renault struggled for consistency as a factory team, with particularly unreliable engines. What was very unique about the first ever Renault car, the RS01, was that one of the designers, Jean-Pierre Jabouille, was actually the driver as well. The RS01’s successor, the RS10, was very quick, but unreliable, as Jabouille and teammate Rene Arnoux finished just six times out of twenty. Out of those six finishes, four were podium finishes, including a double podium at their home track in the 1979 French Grand Prix at Dijon, where Arnoux famously scrapped with Gilles Villeneuve for second while Jabouille took his first Grand Prix win.
Gradual improvements were made for 1980. They went from sixth to fourth in the constructors and in 1982, with Alain Prost and Arnoux, they took more poles than every other team combined, but suffered consistently from mechanical failure. A championship challenge was the best the factory team could do in 1983, but after the 1985 season, they chose to focus on their engines.
From 1983 they supplied Lotus, who outperformed them in 1984 and 1985, taking wins with Elio de Angelis and Ayrton Senna.
Second era: Supplying engines for Lotus, Ligier, Tyrrell, Williams and Benetton (1983-1986, 1989-2001)
Renault supplied three teams from 1983-1986. During this time, they found success with Lotus, who took five victories with them, with Senna being an unlikely title contender at times. They also took four podiums with Ligier and scored points with Tyrrell. After two years out due to organisational changes, Renault returned post-turbo hybrid to supply Williams in 1989. In the opening two years with them they won three Grand Prix, but the tide began turning when Adrian Newey joined Williams, as the FW14 contended for the title in 1991 with Nigel Mansell and dominantly won it in 1992 with Mansell. Prost, now a three-time champion, joined Williams and won both titles with them before he retired.
They returned to supplying Ligier for a few years with little success. The following four years would be dominated by Renault engines, as in 1994, Williams won the constructors, in 1995, Benetton won the constructors and drivers’ titles with Williams second, and in 1996 and 1997, Williams won both titles with Damon Hill, Jacques Villeneuve and Heinz-Harald Frentzen. Renault left F1 in 1998, but had their engines rebadged. Not much success came at this time.
Third era: Return of the factory team (2002-2011)
Returning to F1 after almost 20 seasons away after buying the Benetton team, Renault would build the blocks for a super team, with Fernando Alonso and Jarno Trulli (and later Giancarlo Fisichella) as drivers, Flavio Briatore as Team Principal and Pat Symonds, Bob Bell and James Allison among others working on the technical side. In 2005, Renault, after running between the front and the midfield, had a car that could challenge for the title. Alonso took seven victories on his way to his first F1 title. The following year they went back to back. McLaren, Ferrari and BMW Sauber caught up however, and after three lacklustre seasons and a massive controversy surrounding “Crashgate”, Briatore and Symonds were banned from F1. Briatore initially permanently and Symonds for five years. Both are now back in Formula One, with Briatore as an adviser for Team Enstone, the colloquial name for Renault and its predecessors and successors.
After Crashgate, Renault sold most of the team to Genii Capital and in 2011, stepped back completely.
Fourth era: Supplying engines for Red Bull, Team Lotus, Lotus F1 Team, Williams, Caterham and Toro Rosso (2007-2015)
Before the Crashgate scandal, Renault started supplying engines, and with Adrian Newey once again in charge of their customer team’s designs, this time with Red Bull, yet more success followed with four consecutive titles for Sebastian Vettel from 2010-2013. They also won the constructors with Vettel and Mark Webber during this time too.
Renault also supplied engines to backmarkers Team Lotus and Caterham, midfield teams Williams and Toro Rosso, taking victory in the Spanish Grand Prix with the former and frontrunners in 2012 and 2013, Lotus F1 Team, who were the successors of Renault’s 2002-2011 team.
Fifth era: Factory team returns once-more, continues supplying engines until 2020
In 2016, Renault returned for the third time, buying out Lotus F1 Team. They continued supplying engines to Toro Rosso in 2017 but they chose Honda power in 2018. Red Bull also chose to move to Honda power for 2019. All this was done under the TAG Heuer rebadging. McLaren, who had used Honda engines, chose to pick Renault as their engine supplier, and took several podiums with them in 2019 and 2020 before switching to Mercedes power, leaving Renault to supply themselves. They changed their name to Alpine and have had mixed success, continuing the inconsistency of the post-2016 Renault team. Notable races include the 2020 Eifel and Emilia Romagna Grand Prix where Daniel Ricciardo finished third, the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix where Esteban Ocon took his first Grand Prix victory, the 2021 Qatar Grand Prix where Fernando Alonso took his first podium since 2014, the 2023 Monaco Grand Prix where Ocon scored a third, the 2023 Dutch Grand Prix where Pierre Gasly finished third and the 2024 Brazilian Grand Prix in which Team Enstone took their first double podium since the 2013 Korean Grand Prix.
At the end of 2025, Renault will leave Formula One and Mercedes will begin supplying Alpine.