Club Renault Sport

Renault has the reputation for being the front runner on the racing tracks of Europe. Being amongst the first to enter this field, they have a reputation of having the best of the drivers available in the race. Identifying the importance of motor racing as a marketing tool, the Renault brothers first themselves entered the arena.

But with the death of brother Marcell in 1903, Louis Renault withdrew from the racing track. Renault carried on its foray into various rallies over time. Renault made its debut in Formula One with Jean-Pierre Jabouille in its only car, the Renault RS01 in 1977. It was this car that introduced the power of turbo engines to Formula One arena. In 1979, Rene Arnoux joined Jabouille and the duo won the first French Grand Prix on its home soil in Dijon. Arnoux carried on the winning spree at Silverstone, Brazil and South Africa in 1980. These wins were complimented with the addition of Alain Prost, who was signed up in 1981.

Eddie Cheever

When Arnoux quit joining Ferrari, he was replaced by American Eddie Cheever. The team turned to Patrick Tambay and Derek Warwick in 1985-86. Yet constant problems kept the Renault away from the racing track. They opted to act as engine suppliers and in this role won many championships with Williams during 1990’s. Even along with Benetton team, Johny Herbert won a record of 16 out of 17 races in the 1995 season and Michael Schumacher successfully defended his Drivers’ title by 33 points.

Renault made a re-entry to the tracks in 2000 by taking over the Benetton team with drivers like Giancarlo Fisichella and Alexander Wurz. In 2001, Wurz was replaced by Jenson Button and in 2002; Fisichella was replaced by Jarno Trulli. They together scored 23 points during the season. Button was dropped by Renault F1 in 2003 to rein in Spaniard Fernando Alonso. Along with Giancarlo Fisichella, he went on to win the Renault team its first constructors’ title in 2005 and again in 2006.

For the year 2008, Fernando teams up with Nelson Piquet Jr. and hopes to win Renault more cups than ever before!