First Warning - Renault and The Turbo Era

It was the 1970s and the world of Formula 1 had seen many new ideas and innovations over the last few years. Lower cars, thicker tires, a very large spoiler on both front and rear, the engines had changed size and position, transitioning from the front of the car, to the rear. Said engines however (as they are today) didn’t come in a very wide variety, Ferrari dominated with its flat 12 engine while pretty much every other team used the Ford-Cosworth DFV due to its reliability and power.

Then, a group of lovably crazy people at Renault decided to join the game, with their own car and their own engine. For their master plan, they decieded to exploit one of the changes the rules update established for F1 racing. It stated that all car’s engines should be no bigger than 3 litres, however 1.5 liter with forced induction were also allowed. Renault had been using turbocharged engines on its racecars for several years with great success, therefore their most obvious choice was to use another one to power their F1 car. So they created their secret weapon, the 1.5 litre, turbocharged V6 Gordini engine.

When the 1977 season started, Renault revealed its new toy to the world, the Renault RS01. The team had high expectatives for their creation, however, the car turned out to be a total disaster. It was very unreliable Their only car, driven by Jean Pierre Jabouille, failed to finish every race of the season, getting the nickname of “The Yellow Teapot” due to the fact that it was often seen on the side of the track releasing “steam” (smoke).

And unfortunatly the problems didn’t end there for the little yellow car as Mr Jackie Stewart said in a review

“I tried to line up the car to take the radius of a corner and then applied the power afterwards, but nothing happened. No power arrived until I had exited the corner! The basic behaviour of the car was truly exciting, but I must say that it was inclined to be unstable at high speed, which I believe was due to the front aerodynamics.”

So the car didn’t only had reliability issues, it had multiple design flaws as well.

By the 1978 season, after missing the first 2 races, Renault showed up at Kyalami (South Africa), trusting their car to perform better since the other cars, which used natuarlly aspirated engines, will loose power do to the greater altitude. Their car was still the same, but they had fitted a completely new chasis with aerodynamic upgrades. The car performed well, managing to complete 89 laps during practices, however the car broke down 39 laps into the race.

It was at Monaco, 8 races after its debut, that in tenth place, with no points, and after being lapped four times by the race leader, the RS01 managed to finish its first race.

Jabouille about to be lapped, AGAIN, in Monaco by race leader Patrick Depailler in his Tyrrell. It was the first time the engine resisted until the end of the race.

More DNFs were to come for the French team, however when they finally got their car to work again, it gave the best performance ever seen for a turbocharged car, scratching the podium with a fourth place at the 1978 US Grand Prix, scoring 3 points for the championship (at the time, points were only given to the first 6). When this happened, other teams began to take seriously the infamous yellow car. They managed to finish the next race as well, which happened to be the last one. The team had managed to finish 4 out of the 16 races of the season.

Renault started the 1979 season with yet another modified RS01, as they were working on a new chasis, this would also be the time when Renault entered with 2 cars, signing young Rene Arnoux as their new driver. They started bad with the first race, with Jabouille facing overheating problems. The team feared that their bad luck was still on them. However by the 3rd race Renault’s new car was ready, the RS10

By the 1979 season, Renault hired French Rene Arnoux as second driver

The new car finally gave Renault the results they were looking for, with Jabouille getting his car on pole, in front of the Ferraris of Gilles Villenueve and Jody Scheckter. The frenchman was able to defend agains both Ferraris, however as the race continued, heavy rain started to fall. The Renault and the Ferraris exchanged the lead multiple times while struggling for traction with their slick tires. The race was red flaged, when it was re launched Jabouille had another engine failure and was out, Arnoux kept on until a tire blowout forced him to quit.

The 1979 RS10 had a new aerodynamic design and a new chasis, driven by Jobouille it managed to get pole position at the South African GP

It was in their home race where the French team got what they deserved, with Jabouille starting from pole position once again and going on to win the race, he was carried in arms by the French public, as french driver, driving a french car on french tires (michelin) with a french engine and even french fuel, had just won the french grand prix. Arnoux got third but only after giving the french crowd and the rest of the world one of the best battles ever to be seen in Formula 1 against Gilles Villenueve. This was Renault’s first F1 victory. It was confirmed, the future was turbocharged, as Harvey Postlethwaite, head of Wolf-Williams said:

I will never forget it. Suddenly, the trap recorder read out a speed about 20mph faster than anything we’d ever seen before. That was it: the Renault was coming good. Soon we will all need turbos.

Villenueve vs Arnoux is one of the greatest F1 battles ever seen.

After France, Jabouille wasn’t able to finish any other race except for a 14th place at Monza. Arnoux however went on to get a second place in both the British and the American GPs. However, their point was proven, in the next 3 years almost every team had changed to turbo power, with Ferrari being the first to change, wining 2 GPs in the 1982 season after having won none in the 1981 season. Weirdly though, Renault never won a constructors championship during the “Turbo Era”, with its best result being 2nd in both constructors and drivers championships with Alain Prost.

Renaults idea carried on for some more years until it was faded by the the V12 era. However the turbocharged engine has made its return in the year 2014, opening the door to a new turbo era, where engeneering and design bind together and create some of the fastest machines we know today. And it was all thanks to a group of people that wanted to do things differently, and (in my opinion) are the very best example of the fact that persistance always brings results. Think of that next time you listen or read the rules of anything, there is always a breach, open to possibilities.

That was it for this article, I hope you’ve all liked it. What is your opinion on turbos now? has it changed?, leave your answer in the comments :)

F1Trooper out.