Renault RS01
Although the Renault RS01 failed to win a single Grand Prix, it ushered in a new era for F1, Not only was it the first of the turbocharged F1 cars, but it also signalled the start of a substantial investment in F1 by major car producers that changed the commercial scale of Grand Prix racing.
When the 3-litre formula was devized in the mid-1960s, an allowance was made for forced-induction engines — supercharged or turbocharged — of half that capacity. It was not seriously expected that anyone would take up such an option, but Renault did. In the mid-1970s, having been involved in an F2 racing programme, the company decided that the commercial possibilities of F1 were too good to ignore. However, to give itself the image of an innovator, it was keen on looking at the turbocharged option.
Renault's F2 engine was a 2-litre V6. Based on this, a turbo 1.5 V6 was devized, and Renault built a chassis in which to install it, co-designed by Andre de Cortanze and Jean-Pierre Jabouille, the man who had taken the 1976 F2 championship for the company in a self-penned car. Jabouille would also be the driver.
Although the engine gave in excess of 433kW (580bhp) at a time when the best normally aspirated units were producing little more than 373kW (500bhp), it rarely did so for long, and terrible throttle lag made it exceptionally difficult to drive, It made its debut at the 1977 British Grand Prix, qualifying well down the field. Progress through the next two seasons was steady, interspersed by many spectacular blow-ups. Jabouille took his first points with a fourth place in the 1978 US Grand Prix, and in South Africa in early 1979 — aided by Kyalami's high altitude affecting the performance of the normally aspirated engines, but not the turbo Renault's — Jabouille sat the car on pole position.
It would be another few months before he won his first race, in a ground-effect version of the car, the RS 10. But the RS01 had started the ball rolling, and within a few seasons the entire grid would be turbo powered, while factories such as BMW, Alfa Romeo and Honda would all be involved in F 1 after Renault had demonstrated its commercial worth.
