Renault RS01

Renault RS01
	Equipe Renault Elf
Notable drivers	15. Jean-Pierre Jabouille; 16. René Arnoux
Debut	1977 British Grand Prix
Last event	1979 Belgian Grand Prix
Constructors' Championships	0
Drivers' Championships	0

The Renault RS01 was the first

Ligier and Brabham. Leading French car manufacturer Renault

decided to develop a 1.5 litre turbocharged engine, and a car to accompany the powerplant.

Development

Team Lotus had introduced ground effect with the Lotus 78, while Tyrrell were using the six wheeled Tyrrell P34. Renault continued to innovate with their car, drawing on the knowledge gained from their turbocharged 2.0L V6 engine used in Sports car racing which culminated in finishing 2nd at Le Mans in 1977 and winning in 1978, proving that Renault's turbocharged engines could not only be powerful, but reliable.

The RS01 appeared cumbersome and overweight and indeed it was. But it was nothing more than an experimental test car at this stage, and Jabouille, who was also the team's driver, worked hard to develop it. The engine block was made in cast iron to withstand the pressures of turbocharging, whilst the chassis itself was kept as uncomplicated as possible to aid development.

Race history

The RS01 was chronically unreliable, earning the nickname 'the yellow teapot' from rival teams (as it tended to blow up fairly regularly, usually in a cloud of white smoke),^[2] but Jabouille and the team pressed on throughout the rest of 1977 and 1978 until scoring the car's first points, a fourth place at the 1978 United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen. The car had been developed so much it barely resembled the chunky machine that it had been when it first appeared, and the team's performance picked up throughout the season. Reliability improved, as the huge turbo lag had been overcome with the use of twin turbochargers.

The RS01 started the

flat 12 Ferrari and Alfa Romeos, and the V8 Cosworth DFV, actually lost approximately 20% of their power compared to at sea level.^{[citation needed}

]

Within three years most of the other teams would begin adopting turbochargers for themselves, with Ferrari, Alfa, and other manufacturers such as

Porsche

all supplying turbocharged engines.

Complete Formula One results

(key) (results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Engine	Tyres	Drivers	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Points	WCC
1977	Equipe Renault Elf	Renault-Gordini EF1 1.5L V6 (tc)	M		ARG	BRA	RSA	USW	ESP	MON	BEL	SWE	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	USA	CAN	JPN	0	NC
1977	Equipe Renault Elf	Renault-Gordini EF1 1.5L V6 (tc)	M	Jean-Pierre Jabouille										Ret			Ret	Ret	Ret	DNQ		0	NC
1978	Equipe Renault Elf	Renault-Gordini EF1 1.5L V6 (tc)	M		ARG	BRA	RSA	USW	MON	BEL	ESP	SWE	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	USA	CAN		3	12th
1978	Equipe Renault Elf	Renault-Gordini EF1 1.5L V6 (tc)	M	Jean-Pierre Jabouille			Ret	Ret	10	NC	13	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	4	12		3	12th
1979	Equipe Renault Elf	Renault-Gordini EF1 1.5L V6 (tc)	M		ARG	BRA	RSA	USW	ESP	BEL	MON	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	CAN	USA			26*	6th
				Jean-Pierre Jabouille	Ret	10	Ret	DNS
				René Arnoux	Ret	Ret	Ret	DNS	9	Ret

All points were scored using the Renault RS10

References

^ "Engine Renault • STATS F1".
^ ^a ^b "Renault 30th F1 anniversary/ Talks about the RS01". Formula1.com. Retrieved 2013-08-11.

Sources

The Concise Encyclopedia of Formula One by David Tremayne

External links

[1] "Engine Renault • STATS F1".

[RS01-2] "Renault 30th F1 anniversary/ Talks about the RS01". Formula1.com. Retrieved 2013-08-11.

[2]