Renault

Though the Renault F1 team is based in Enstone, Oxfordshire in the United Kingdom, the vehicle manufacturer hails from Boulogne-Billancourt France. Renault has long been involved in the production of cars, vans, buses, tractors and trucks and they are a popular vehicle manufacturer on a worldwide scale. The company also has a reputation for coming up with several revolutionary designs which have influenced the development of cars in general, as well as having excellent security technology and enjoying great success in the field of motor racing. In the United States Renault is commonly mispronounced and spelled as “Renalt”. However, after extensive marketing efforts, the original French spelling of the word has made a massive comeback in that country.

Renault has long been involved in motorsport in general as most manufacturers recognise the immense value of this avenue of sport as an effective marketing tool. However, they only started to become more dedicated to motorsport in general in the late 70s and early 80s when they made the decision to establish a dedicated motorsport division. This division was called Renault Sport and it has enjoyed immense success both in Rally Racing and Formula One. It is interesting to note that their initial 1977 entry into the world of Formula One was seen by many in the racing fraternity to be a big joke. This was mainly due to the fact that Renault’s designs were somewhat unconventional and featured such curiosities as a turbocharger. However, they soon won respect by achieving notable finishes and finally, after just two years, the Renault F1 Team won their first race. Despite early ridicule every one of the front-running Formula One teams were making use of turbochargers by the early 80s.

Renaults true Formula One Success came when the manufacturer made the decision to take over the Benetton F1 team in 2001. With top F1 driver Fernando Alonso behind the wheel initially, Renault soon enjoyed massive success. In 2005 Renault won both the Constructors and Drivers titles. Recently there has been some curiosity regarding the appointment of Carlos Ghosn as Renault’s CEO since there was a general consensus that he would not be very committed to the Formula One Team. However, Ghosn laid fears to rest in 2006 after announcing that the team would continue to participate in Formula One until at least 2012. This means that fans will continue to enjoy the innovative design and engineering that have become Renault trademarks.

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