Editing Renault in Formula One (section)

=== Équipe Renault (1977–1985) ===
{{Further|1977 Formula One season|1978 Formula One season|1979 Formula One season|1980 Formula One season|1981 Formula One World Championship|1982 Formula One World Championship|1983 Formula One World Championship|1984 Formula One World Championship|1985 Formula One World Championship}}

==== 1977–1978: Laying a foundation for turbo revolution ====
[[File:Renault F1 turbo engine in a Lotus 95T John Player Special.jpg|thumb|upright|Renault 1.5-litre turbo engine]]
Renault's first involvement in Formula One was made by the [[Renault Sport]] subsidiary. Renault entered the last five races of {{F1|1977}} with [[Jean-Pierre Jabouille]] in its only car. The [[Renault RS01]] was well known for its Renault-[[Gordini]] V6 1.5 [[litre|L]] [[turbocharger|turbocharged]] [[internal combustion engine|engine]], the first regularly used turbo engine in Formula One history. Jabouille's car and engine proved highly unreliable and became something of a joke during its first races, earning the nickname of "Yellow Teapot" and failing to finish any of its races despite being comparatively powerful.

The first race the team, under the name Équipe Renault Elf, entered was the [[1977 French Grand Prix]], the ninth round of the season, but the car was not yet ready. The team's début was delayed until the following round, the {{F1 GP|1977|British}}. The car's first qualifying session was not a success, and Jabouille qualified 21st out of the 30 runners and 26 starters, 1.62 seconds behind pole sitter [[James Hunt]] in the [[McLaren]]. Jabouille ran well in the race, running as high as 16th before the car's turbo failed on lap 17. The team missed the [[1977 German Grand Prix|German]] and [[1977 Austrian Grand Prix|Austrian]] Grands Prix as the car was being improved after its British disappointment. They returned for the {{F1 GP|1977|Dutch}}, and the qualifying performance was much improved as Jabouille qualified tenth. He had a poor start but ran as high as sixth before the suspension failed on lap 40.

The team's poor qualifying form returned in [[1977 Italian Grand Prix|Italy]], as Jabouille qualified 20th. He ran outside the top 10 until his engine failed on lap 24, continuing their awful run of reliability. Things improved at [[Watkins Glen International|Watkins Glen]] for the {{F1 GP|1977|United States}} as Jabouille qualified 14th, but the good pace from [[Circuit Zandvoort|Zandvoort]] seemed to be gone as he once again ran outside the top 10 before retiring with yet another reliability problem, this time the alternator, on lap 31. Jabouille failed to qualify in [[1977 Canadian Grand Prix|Canada]]; as 27 drivers entered the race, only one would not qualify, and this was Jabouille as he ended up last, over 7.5 seconds behind the fastest qualifier [[Mario Andretti]] of [[Team Lotus|Lotus]], and almost two seconds behind his nearest rival, [[Rupert Keegan]], in the [[Hesketh Racing|Hesketh]]. After this, Renault did not travel to the [[1977 Japanese Grand Prix|season finale]] in Japan.

The following year was hardly better, characterised by four consecutive retirements caused by blown engines, but near the end of the year, the team showed signs of success. Twice, the RS01 qualified 3rd on the grid and while finishing was still something of an issue, it managed to finish its first race on the lead lap at [[Watkins Glen International|Watkins Glen]] near the end of {{F1|1978}}, giving the team a fourth-place finish and its first Formula One points.

The team did not enter the first two races of 1978, in [[1978 Argentine Grand Prix|Argentina]] and [[1978 Brazilian Grand Prix|Brazil]], but returned for the {{F1 GP|1978|South African}} at [[Kyalami]]. Jabouille secured Renault's best qualifying position to date, with sixth place, just 0.71 seconds behind polesitter [[Niki Lauda]] in the [[Brabham]]. He dropped out of the points early in the race before retiring with electrical problems on lap 39. At [[1978 United States Grand Prix West|Long Beach]], Jabouille qualified 13th but retired as the turbo failed again on lap 44. He was twelfth in qualifying for the team's [[1978 Monaco Grand Prix|first Monaco Grand Prix]], and gave the team their first finish in Formula One, finishing in tenth place four laps down on race-winner [[Tyrrell Racing|Tyrrell]]'s [[Patrick Depailler]].

==== 1979 season: Win breakthrough ====
[[File:Renault RS10 1979.jpg|thumb|left|In 1979, the Renault RS10 became the first [[Turbocharger|turbocharged]] car to win a Grand Prix.]]
Expanding to two drivers with [[René Arnoux]] joining Jabouille, the team continued to struggle although Jabouille earned a [[pole position]] in [[1979 South African Grand Prix|South Africa]]. By mid-season, both drivers had a new [[Ground effect in cars|ground-effect]] car, the RS10, and at [[1979 French Grand Prix|Dijon]] for the [[French Grand Prix]] the team legitimised itself with a brilliant performance in a classic race. The two Renaults were on the front row in qualifying, and pole-sitter Jabouille won the race, the first driver in a turbocharged car to do so, while Arnoux and [[Gilles Villeneuve]] were involved in an extremely competitive duel for second, Arnoux narrowly getting beaten to the line. While Jabouille ran into hard times after that race, Arnoux finished second at [[1979 British Grand Prix|Silverstone]] in the following race and then repeated that at the Glen, proving it was not a fluke.

==== 1980–1983 seasons: Becoming an established frontrunner ====
[[File:Rétromobile 2016 - Renault F1 RE 40 - 1983 - 003.jpg|thumb|[[Alain Prost]] finished second in the 1983 championship with the Renault RE40.]]
Arnoux furthered this in {{F1|1980}} with consecutive wins in [[1980 Brazilian Grand Prix|Brazil]] and [[1980 South African Grand Prix|South Africa]], both on high altitude circuits where the Renaults were dominant. Jabouille continued to have problems with retirements, but in his only points finish he emerged victorious in [[1980 Austrian Grand Prix|Austria]]. At the end of the year, Jabouille crashed heavily at the [[1980 Canadian Grand Prix|Canadian GP]] and suffered serious leg injuries, which effectively ended his career as a Grand Prix driver. [[Alain Prost]] was signed up for {{F1|1981}}. In his three years with the team, Prost showed the form that would make him a Formula One legend and the Renaults were among the best in Formula One, twice finishing third in the Constructors' Championships and once second. Prost won nine races with the team, while Arnoux added two more in {{F1|1982}}. Arnoux left for rival [[Scuderia Ferrari|Ferrari]] after 1982 and was replaced by American [[Eddie Cheever]]. In {{F1|1983}}, Renault and Prost came very close to winning the drivers' title but were edged out by [[Nelson Piquet]] ([[Brabham]]-[[BMW in Formula One|BMW]]) at the last race of the season in [[1983 South African Grand Prix|South Africa]]. After the end of the season, a rival fuel company said that the fuel used by the Brabham-BMWs in South Africa had exceeded the maximum [[Research Octane Number]] of 102 permitted under the Formula One regulations. BMW said that this was incorrect and FISA released a dossier supporting their stance. No action was taken.<ref>{{Cite book | last = Henry | first = Alan | title = Brabham, the Grand Prix Cars | publisher=Osprey |year=1985 | isbn = 0-905138-36-8}} pp.267–269</ref>

==== 1984–1985 seasons: Post-Prost decline and works team exit ====
Prost was fired two days after the 1983 season following his public comments about the team's lack of development of the [[Renault RE40]] which resulted in his loss to Piquet and the team's loss to Ferrari in the 1983 championship. He subsequently joined [[McLaren]], while Cheever left to join [[Alfa Romeo in Formula One|Alfa Romeo]]. The team turned to Frenchman [[Patrick Tambay]] (who had left Ferrari) and Englishman [[Derek Warwick]] (formerly of [[Toleman]]) to bring them back to prominence. Despite a few good results, including Tambay giving the team its last pole position at the [[1984 French Grand Prix]] at Dijon, the team was not as competitive in {{F1|1984}} and {{F1|1985}} as in the past, with other teams doing a better job with turbo engines, or more specifically [[Team Lotus|Lotus]] and to a lesser extent [[Équipe Ligier|Ligier]]. {{F1|1985}} provided another F1 first, as the team ran a third car in [[1985 German Grand Prix|Germany]] at the new [[Nürburgring]] that featured the first in-car camera which could be viewed live by a television audience. Driven by Frenchman [[François Hesnault]], the car only lasted 8 laps before a clutch problem forced it to retire (the last race on which a team entered three cars for a race). In 1985, major financial problems emerged at Renault and the company could no longer justify the large expenses needed to maintain the racing team's competitiveness. CEO [[Georges Besse]] pared down the company's involvement in F1 from full-fledged racing team to engine supplier for the {{F1|1986}} season before taking it entirely out of F1 at the end of that year.