50 Facts About Renault F1

French automotive manufacturer Renault F1 has been associated with Formula One as both team owner and engine manufacturer for various periods since 1977.

Renault F1 returned to Formula One in 1989 as an engine manufacturer.

Renault F1 became a works engine manufacturer again in 2001, and in 2002 the Enstone-based team was re-branded as Renault F1.

Renault F1 entered the last five races of 1977 with Jean-Pierre Jabouille in its only car.

Renault F1 had a poor start but ran as high as sixth before the suspension failed on lap 40.

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Renault F1 ran outside the top 10 until his engine failed on lap 24, continuing their awful run of reliability.

Renault F1 dropped out of the points early in the race before retiring with electrical problems on lap 39.

Renault F1 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.

Renault F1 subsequently joined McLaren, while Cheever left to join Alfa Romeo.

On 16 March 2000, Renault F1 purchased Benetton Formula Limited for $120 million, to return to Formula One.

The history of the team acquired by Renault F1 started in 1981 as the Toleman Motorsport team, based in Witney, Oxfordshire, England.

Renault F1 continued to use the Benetton constructor name for the 2000 and the 2001 seasons, with the Renault F1 name returning in 2001 as an engine brand.

In 2002, Benetton was rebranded as Renault F1 and contested the season with drivers Jarno Trulli and Jenson Button who scored 23 points during the season.

Renault F1's 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 F1 had won a Grand Prix since the 1983 Austrian Grand Prix.

Renault F1 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.

Trulli won the Monaco Grand Prix, but his relationship with Renault F1 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).

Renault F1 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.

Renault F1 took advantage of a rain-affected qualifying session to win the first race of the season, the Australian Grand Prix.

At the French Grand Prix, Renault F1 was expected to be faster than Ferrari, but Ferrari again had the advantage.

The FIA announced its intention to appeal that decision and Renault F1 announced they would not race with the system for fear of retrospective punishment if the appeal was upheld.

On 16 October 2006, Renault F1 announced that the Dutch banking giant ING would replace Mild Seven as title sponsor for three years starting in 2007.

Renault F1 confirmed Giancarlo Fisichella and Heikki Kovalainen as their race drivers for 2007 with Nelson Piquet Jr.

Renault F1 engines were supplied to the Red Bull Racing team for the 2007 season.

Renault F1 struggled in comparison to their form in previous seasons in Australia, with Giancarlo Fisichella finishing the race in 5th place.

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On 8 November 2007, the FIA accused Renault F1 of having McLaren F1 technical information in their possession.

Renault F1 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.

The Renault F1 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.

Renault F1 entered the season with high hopes of challenging both world titles.

Renault F1 had been suspended for one race 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.

Renault F1 was replaced by test driver Romain Grosjean as of the European Grand Prix.

FIA stated that Renault F1 would have likely been thrown out of Formula One if it had not taken swift action in pushing out Briatore and Symonds.

In 2010, Renault F1 sold a majority stake in the team to Genii Capital, a Luxembourg based investment company.

Rumours had tipped 2007 World Champion Kimi Raikkonen to replace Petrov for 2011, but the Finn angrily rejected claims he would join the team, stating that he was upset Renault F1 was using his name for their image and that their actions meant he would not race for them.

Renault F1 continued to support the team by supplying engines and its expertise and thus Red Bull Racing was promoted to Renault F1's full-works partnership team.

On 3 December 2015, Renault F1 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.

In Belgium, Renault F1 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.

Renault F1 began manufacturing engines at the Viry-Chatillon factory in 1976, after closing the former Alpine competition department, which was run in conjunction with the Formula One team under the Renault F1 Sport division.

That year, Renault F1 began supplying engines to the Ligier team, which scored three points in 1984, an improvement over not being classified in the 1983 championship.

Renault F1 Sport stopped its engine program at the end of the year, having scored 19 pole positions and 5 Grand Prix victories with customer teams.

Renault F1 returned as a Formula One engine supplier in 1989 with the banning of turbocharged engines, in partnership with the Williams team.

The Williams-Renault F1 combination scored its first victory at the wet 1989 Canadian Grand Prix, with Thierry Boutsen, and finished their initial season together with Boutsen winning the very wet 1989 Australian Grand Prix.

Williams had signs of promise for the next 2 years and by 1992, with the aid of active suspension and better engines, the Williams-Renault F1 was a World Championship-winning car, winning over half of the races during the season, as its driver Nigel Mansell won the drivers' title.

In 1995 engine regulations reduced maximum engine displacement to three litres, with Renault F1 adapting the RS7, making it lighter and featuring a fly-by-wire throttle.

Renault F1 left the F1 again at the end of 1997, and evolutions of its last engine, the RS9, were still used by many teams during the following seasons.

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Renault F1 continued working with Mecachrome, which paid for development of the engines, and supplied them to Williams under the Mecachrome name.

Renault F1 then resumed his podium run, with the exception of one retirement, until the end of the season, while Webber finished behind until the final two races.

That year, Williams returned to its association with Renault F1, signing a deal to receive the RS27 engines until the end of 2013.

Renault F1 introduced revised components and more software upgrades trying to reduce the gap with rivals.

Renault F1 then terminated their 2016 engine supply agreement with Scuderia Toro Rosso, and the team returned to their former supplier Ferrari.