Renault F1: 1977-1986 Trivia Quiz

Answer: British Grand Prix

Renault Sport Technologies, the motorsport division of Renault S.A, were responsible for Renault's first foray into Formula One in 1977. Renault were the first manufacturer to seriously consider the use pf a 1.5 lite turbo-charged engine and it was at the 1977 British Grand Prix that Renault finally made their first appearance. Painted in yellow and black, Jean-Pierre Jabouille, who had helped develop the turbo engine thanks to his testing and engineering background, qualified the car 21st on the grid but the car suffered turbo failure on lap 16. Renault would appear at four more races in 1977, but the engine suffered severe turbo lag and awful unreliability.

Answer: United States Grand Prix

South Africa and the early rounds saw the Renault beset by turbo issues and blown engines, but Jabouille did manage some finishes, a 10th at Monaco being quite notable as the Renault was expected to struggle on the narrow streets. But a number of engine blow-ups mid-season were terribly embarrassing for the French team, including a blown engine on the first lap of the French Grand Prix.

But towards seasons end, Renault was starting to get to grips with the turbo engine and the car, Jabouille started to get a couple of results.

He qualified third in Italy and Austria, notable power tracks where the turbo could stretch its legs, while Jabouille scored the turbocharged engines first points at the United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen, by taking fourth place after qualifying ninth.

Answer: Rene Arnoux

Arnoux was European Formula Two champion in 1977, and made his Formula One debut with the small French Martini team. But, the team was never flush with money and only lasted half a season. Left without a drive, Arnoux joined the Surtees team for the final two races but that team too left at the end of the season. With no drive for 1978, it was no surprise that Arnoux left at the chance to drive the Renault in 1979.

The team had a new car in the works, the RS10, which would take full effect of ground effects and the turbo was still developing.

Answer: Dijon

It was a day for the French to savour, a French driver (Jabouille) in a French (car) on French tyres (Michelin), with French fuel (Elf) had won the French Grand Prix. However, most Formula One fans remember the fantastic battle between Gilles Villeneuve in a Ferrari and Arnoux in the other Renault. For lap after lap, these two drivers battled hard but fair, and on the last lap banged wheels numerous times, swapping position time and again but never putting the other at risk. Villeneuve just held off Arnoux to the line.

It was Jabouille's only points finish of the year as he suffered most of the teams unreliability, but Arnoux added two second places in Britain and the United States to his third place in France. Renault finished sixth overall with 26 points in the 1979 Constructors Championship.

Answer: Three

With another new chassis, the RE20, the team started the season with a bang. Jabouille took pole positions in Brazil and South Africa, while Arnoux took victories at both those races. Jabouille managed to win another race at the Osterreichring in Austria, but that was his only points finish of the year, and the season ended on a sad note as he was left with a broken leg at the Canadian Grand Prix when his Renault's suspension failed. Arnoux managed to salvage some point finishes in-between engine and turbo failures to finish sixth overall on 29 points.

Answer: Three

Moving from McLaren-Ford, where he had impressed at times, it took time for Prost to settle in at Renault, a third in Argentina being his best result in the first seven races, the other six being retirements. But at the French Grand Prix at Dijon, it all came right for Renault once again and the team took another thoroughly French victory. Prost would win two more races, at Zandvoort in Holland and in Italy, to finish fifth overall on 43 points. If not for shocking reliability issues, Prost may have won the title as Piquet won the World Championship on only 50 points.

In comparison, Arnoux finished on the podium only once in a difficult year, but still helped Renault finish third overall in the Constructors Championship on 54 points.

Answer: Four

With turbocharged engines becoming increasing powerful, the limits of engine reliability were constantly being pushed. Renault was pushing plenty of boundaries with their new car, the RE30B, which was a new design. However, despite interesting aerodynamic tweaks and the newly developed engine was producing nearly 600bhp, the electronic fuel injection had a habit of failing, leading to many spectacular retirements for both drivers.

The Renaults were formidable in qualifying, sweeping the front row more often than note, but only four times did both cars finish, South Africa, United States East, France, and Swiss Grand Prix. Both drivers took two wins each, but neither had any real chance of winning the championship this season. Renault again finished third in the Constructors Championship, this time with 62 points.

Answer: True

Alain Prost came closest to winning the tile for Renault in 1983, finishing only two points behind Nelson Piquet's Brabham-BMW after a retirement at the season ending South African Grand Prix cost him the Championship. Prost was joined at Renault in 1983 by Eddie Cheever after Arnoux had left for Ferrari. Prost won in France (naturally), Belgium, Britain and Austria, along with podiums in San Marino, Monaco and the European Grand Prix at Brands Hatch. But, despite only three retirements, Piquet's consistency and eight podiums (three wins) just edged out Prost.

At loggerheads with the Renault bosses, Prost was sacked at the end of 1983 for too often criticising the team, and he was made scapegoat by Renault for losing the title.

Answer: Second place

After the glory of the previous three seasons, Renault paid the price for dumping Prost (and earlier Arnoux) as they failed to win a race for the first time since 1978. Primarily this was due to Renault being overtaken in the development of the turbocharged engine by the likes of Honda, Porsche/TAG and BMW while the new Renault RE50 was disappointing. Both drivers managed to place second, Tambay in France while Warwich managed it twice in Belgium and Great Britain.

But on the whole, it was a disappointing campaign for the French team, as they finished only fifth in the Constructors Championship with 34 points.

Answer: On-board camera

At the 1985 German Grand Prix, Renault entered a third car for driver Francois Hesnault, specifically to bring pictures to television from a camera mounted on the car. Hesnault only managed to qualify 23rd on the grid and retired on lap 8 with clutch failure. Renault in 1985 were nearing the end of their first participation in Formula One, and would only return in full capacity in 2002.
There were few notable results, only two third place finishes for Tambay in Portugal and San Marino bringing any joy. With Renault facing a cash crisis, Renault HQ pulled their team out of Formula One at the end of 1985, and stopped supplying engines at the end of 1986.

The Renault team had won 15 races in nine years of participation, while Lotus also won five races in two seasons (1985/1986) with Renault engines.