Drivers: Fernando Alonso | Nelson Piquet Jr

Website: www.renaultf1.com

After the slump that followed its back-to-back drivers’ and constructors’ titles in 2005-6, Renault is on the way back to the front of the Formula 1 pack.

Fernando Alonso’s brilliant pair of wins in late 2008 showed that the team was rediscovering its world-beating mid-2000s form.

With the FIA allowing Renault to address its power deficit – the package’s only remaining weak point – with some winter engine tweaks, Alonso’s determination to fight for this year’s title is palpable.

It wasn’t just Alonso’s departure for an ill-fated and very brief detour at McLaren that weakened Renault in 2007.

Tyre partner Michelin’s departure was a massive blow given the car’s exceptional harmony with the rubber, and Renault had also poured its relatively modest resources into the ultra-close 2006 title fight at the expense of 2007 preparations – a problem that most notably manifested itself in some aerodynamic flaws.

It took until mid-2008 to completely get over those problems, but with solutions now found and the talismanic Alonso more fired up than ever, there’s plenty of light at the end of Renault’s tunnel.


F1 track record

Renault became synonymous with success as an engine supplier in the 1990s, when it powered Williams to four world championships and Benetton to the 1995 titles, but until 2005 it had never won the crown as a constructor.

In 1977 its first works programme had changed the face of F1, as Renault introduced 1.5-litre turbocharged engines.

It was initially the butt of derision – but soon the entire grid was jumping on the turbo bandwagon, and Renault found itself overhauled by rivals.

The closest it came to a championship was in 1983, when Alain Prost narrowly lost out to Nelson Piquet and Brabham-BMW.

After two further, less productive seasons, Renault closed its works team altogether.

The modern Renault squad has little in common with that troubled operation.

This time the company purchased an existing team – 1994-95 title winner Benetton – to form the basis of its factory outfit.

Times were hard at first, as the radical 2001 car initially proved embarrassingly uncompetitive.

But Renault methodically worked forward, and by 2003 it was a regular front-runner again, with Alonso taking the works team’s first win in 20 years in Hungary.

Jarno Trulli’s glorious Monaco victory aside, Renault spent 2004 watching from the lower steps of the podium as Ferrari blitzed F1, but the following two years were a different story.

The team began both 2005 and 2006 in dominant form, allowing Alonso to build substantial points leads by the middle of each season.

In 2005 it was Kimi Raikkonen’s faster but more fragile McLaren that bore down on Alonso in the second half of the year, but the Spaniard had enough in hand to claim the title for Renault.

Schumacher and Ferrari proved tougher still in 2006, and even briefly sneaked into the championship lead in the closing stages, before Alonso and Renault prevailed again.

After 16 wins in 2005-06, a single podium in 2007 was a massive disappointment, but the late 2008 resurgence has lifted the team’s spirits.