Renault

- Published on Dec 8th, 2010 by The Badger

The current incarnation of Renault was born in 2002 as the team formerly known as Benetton (and before that Toleman) became a resurrected Renault.

In 2003 Fernando Alonso was promoted from tester to race driver and, much like the team had done with Michael Schumacher a decade earlier, grew with the promising youngster to eventually take two world titles. However this was a high watermark, and Alonso's departure for McLaren in 2007 saw the team begin to decline. He returned a year later, winning a pair of races in 2008, but the combination of a dreadful (and ugly) 2009 car and the revelations of the crashgate scandal threw the team in to chaos. Renault themselves sold the majority of the team to Genii capital at the conclusion of '09, whilst Eric Boullier came in to replace Flavio Briatore, now banned from F1 for his role in crashgate.

Boullier's reign has thus far been a huge success, with Robert Kubica proving to be one of the stars of the 2010 campaign. Hopes are now high that the addition of Group Lotus' financial investment will allow the team to return to the glory days of 2005 and '06, but the loss of their lead driver is a bitter blow. Entering the new season, questions marks remain over whether Nick Heidfeld or Vitaly Petrov can lead this Anglo-Franco-Malaysian effort to success.