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The Renault F1 team is the name of the constructor team owned by French automobile giant Renault. Renault is known as the first to introduce the turbo engine to Formula One in 1977 with their Renault RS1. Although they won races and competed for world titles, Renault would withdraw from F1 in 1985. The French automaker returned in 2000 after it purchased the Benetton Tea. Two years later, they rebranded it a Renault F1 team and began using Renault as their constructor name while winning the world title in 2005 and 2006. In 2012, they changed their constructor name to Lotus and their team name to Lotus F1 until 2015 when they returned to the control of Renault as the manufacturer.
Aside from being a constructor, Renault also supplied engines to teams like Red Bull, Benetton Formula, and Williams. Aside from its Constructors championships and Drivers championships in 2005 and 2006, Renault has contributed 9 other world championships. As a supplier of engine, Renault has helped in more than 160 wins, the 4th most ever in the history of Formula 1.
Drivers
Nico Hulkenberg joined Renault in 2017 after spending the previous six Formula Seasons driving for Force India with one season in between for Team Sauber. The 31-year old German started his F1 career racing for the Williams team in 2010 but was not retained despite earning the team’s first pole in five years.
Like most drivers, he started racing in karting before transitioning to Formula BMW in 2005 and winning the title in his maiden season. The following year, he joined the German A1 Grand Prix team where he notched nine wins in his rookie season to become the winningest driver in A1GP history. Hulkenberg won the Formula 3 Euro Series in 2008 and the GP2 Series championship in 2009.
Hulkenberg owns the record for most Formula 1 starts without a podium finish. A record he broke at the 2017 Grand Prix when he failed to finish the race for his 129th start without a podium finish. Before the 2019 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Hulkenberg has a total of 159 starts without a podium finish.
The other driver for Renault in the 2019 Formula One Season is Daniel Ricciardo who drove for Aston Martin Red Bull last year. The 29-year old Australian began racing for the Australian Formula Ford championship in 2005. He would move on to the Formula BMW in the UK and Asia before racing for Formula Renault, Formula 3 Euro series, British Formula 3 and Formula Renault 3.5 series before arriving at the Formula 1 scene.
In 2011, Ricciardo was contracted to Hispania Racing by Red Bull Racing. The following season, he raced for Red Bull’s sister team Toro Rosso. At the start of 2014, Ricciardo started racing for Red Bull and his first partner was Sebastian Vettel. He won the 2014 Canadian Grand Prix for his first win in Formula One.
Ricciardo has a total of seven victories and 29 podium finishes in Formula One. He also has a total of 992 career points with 3 poles and 13 fastest laps. The most recent wins for Ricciardo are the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in 2017, the Chinese Grand Prix in 2018 and the Monaco Grand Prix in 2018.
Engine
In 1977, Renault entered the Formula One picture as an engine constructor and introduced the turbo engine to F1 via its first car, the Renault RS1. In 1983, it became Team Lotus’ engine supplier. Later Tyrell and Ligier also became Renault’s customers as well. However, Renault withdrew from Formula 1 in 1985 and returned in 1989 in partnership with the Williams team. Renault’s Viry factory produced the first pneumatic valved 3.5 V10 engine.
Renault left again in 1997 although other teams still used the evolution of its last engine, the RS9. After their purchase of the Benetton team, Renault did not supply engines until 2007 when they signed an agreement with Red Bull. Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull would win the titles in 2010, giving Renault its 9th title and the first for the RS 27 engine. Renault developed a new 1.6L V6 turbocharged engine, the Renault Energy F1-2014, in compliance with new regulations. Red Bull terminated its contract with Renault in 2016 but its sister team Torro Rosso returned to Renault power in 2017. Currently, Renault is McLaren‘s engine supplier from 2018-2020. Toro Rosso switched to Honda as did Red Bull.
Renault’s car for the 2019 season is called the Renault R.S. 19. The car is powered by a Renault E-Tech 19 1.6 L (98 cu in) direct injection V6 turbocharged engine limited to 15,000 RPM. Its electric motor is a Renault kinetic and thermal energy recovery systems while its transmission is an eight-speed semi-automatic carbon gearbox with reverse gears.
Stats
After three races in the 2019 Formula One season, the Renault drivers are tied for 10th place with six points apiece. Nico Hulkenberg has finished 7th, 17th and retired in the first three races of the season while Daniel Ricciardo has finished retired, 18th and 7th in his first three starts of 2019.
In total, Hulkenberg has one pole, two fastest laps and a total of 480 career points in a total of 159 career starts. On the other hand, Ricciardo has 7 wins, 29 podiums, 3 poles, 13 fastest laps in a total of 153 career starts. As a team, Renault currently ranks 4th in the Constructors’ standings behind Mercedes, Ferrari, and Red Bull Honda. When it comes to Formula One betting, both Renault drivers are outside the top five betting favorites and are part of the longshot bets.
