Editing Renault in Formula One (section)

==== 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]].