So jumping ship from the mighty titan of the fizzy drink world to that of a French manufacturer team is all silly-crazy-mad-stuff for Daniel Ricciardo is it?
Mike Lawrence recently provided a most excellent review of the issue from the position of that Arch-Jester Christian Horner, so now let us, dear reader, stand on tip-toe and have a quick view of the other side of the fence. Is that dust or green grass I see manicured before me...?
Just as Henri Desgrange as editor of L'Auto newspaper founded the Tour de France in 1903 to boost circulation, so it was that a few years earlier the Le Petit Journal ran what is held to be the first race for petrol fuelled cars on 22nd July 1894 as an event to attract readers.
Running from Paris to Rouen it attracted over one hundred entrants and line honours were taken by Le Comte de Dion. However due to his automobile being steam powered he did not win the prize as the pedantic French obsession with prescriptive engine rules that the FIA so lovingly administer today was already in full force. So it was that second over the line, Albert Lemaitre in a Peugeot (or more correctly at the time "Les Fils de Peugeot Freres" - "The sons of Peugeot Brothers") was awarded the prize for finishing the 130 kilometre course in five hours and forty-five minutes, some five minutes behind the incorrectly engined Comte de Dion. As a side note, that's an average speed a shade under 23Kph (around 14 mph) so the cars are unquestionably faster now, oh, and there was an overtake for the lead too...
Other Peugeots and Panhard et Levassors filled the top ten, and a Benz came home in 14th.
While Renault was not directly represented in this race, its initial engine supplier, De Dion-Bouton, was, having provided the winning steam car to Le Comte de Dion (for which effort Le Petit Journal kindly awarded them second prize).
Renault was founded, like Peugeot by brothers, in 1899, and having started with engines provided by the race winning De Dion-Bouton, commenced manufacturing their own engines in 1903. In 1905 Renault successfully landed a contract to supply a fleet of taxis that would go on to be used to transport troops during World War One.
The Renault brothers, Louis, Marcel, and Fernand soon recognised the merits of racing to promote their cars, and succeeded in winning races across Europe in the early years of the company to the direct benefit of sales. Marcel won the 1902 Paris-Vienna race, marking the start of a long and successful racing history for the company.
Sadly Marcel was killed while competing in the 1903 Paris to Madrid road race. The remaining brothers kept their cars racing, and in 1906 a Renault AK 90CV piloted by Ferenc Szisz (pictured) won the first Grand Prix style motor race.
Renault expanded successfully into trucks and buses, and during World War One also built aero engines (which were used by Rolls Royce as the basis for their first V8 aero engines). Renault's work on tanks was to lead it successfully into tractor manufacture once the war ended.
By 1928 Renault was producing over 45,000 cars per year, and was a respected volume manufacturer.
Renault has raced in most motor racing categories, in the modern era, first winning in Rallying, being European Rally Champions in 1970, 1999, 2004 and 2005. They even succeeded in being the first two-wheel-drive winner of Paris Dakar in 1999. They won Le Mans in 1978 with the Renault Alpine A442. Then we come to Formula One...
Renault first entered Formula One in 1977 as a constructor. Their first car, the RS01, was unique in having the first turbo-equipped engine. Amusingly, given the current crisis surrounding McLaren, the first full race weekend contested by Equipe Renault Elf, was the 1977 British Grand Prix. Where Jean-Pierre Jabouille, having spent the tail end of the 1976 season exploding his high-powered turbo engine on a regular basis, qualified 21st out of 26 starters, while James Hunt qualified on pole in his McLaren. James went on to win the race, with Niki Lauda second in a Ferrari, and a certain Gilles Villeneuve making his debut... in a McLaren. (Ed's note - Incidentally, including pre-qualifiers, the entry list featured 36 drivers - though only 26 took part in the race)
It was not until the French Grand Prix at Dijon in 1979 that Renault fielded two RS10 ground-effect cars that, to the delight of the crowd, locked-out the front row of the grid. Jabouille started from pole and went on to take a brilliant first turbo-powered win for Renault. Meanwhile Rene Arnoux in the other Renault had a lap-after-lap, wheel-to-wheel battle with Gilles Villeneuve that is the stuff of legend. Indeed, so remarkably tight and on the edge was this duel that even Jeremy Clarkson respects it as a high point of motor racing (before promptly using it as clear evidence that F1 racing today is a weak, watered-down washout version of its own past...). Villeneuve (in what he later described as "...my best memory of Grand Prix racing") took second place by fractions of a second from Arnoux. With this win Jabouille became the first French Grand Prix winner since Jean-Pierre Wimille in 1948, while driving a French car in its home race with a French engine, French fuel (elf), and French tyres (Michelin). Not a bad day for the home crowd...
The team ceased competing in 1985, but continued (with minor interruption) as an engine supplier until 1997. In 2000 Renault returned via the purchase of the Benetton team (formally Toleman) based in Enstone. This foray into Formula One finally resulted in championship wins in both 2005 and 2006 with both the drivers' and constructors' silverware finally being taken home.
When engine supplies to Benetton, Williams, and Red Bull are taken into consideration Renault has been the motive power behind 160 wins as an engine supplier, and aided in an additional nine Drivers' Championship wins. These have been attained for esteemed pilots including Fernando Alonso, Nigel Mansell, Damon Hill, Michael Schumacher, Alain Prost, Sebastian Vettel, and Jacques Villeneuve. Not exactly a damp squib of a roll call there.
So dear reader what do we have here as we wobble on our tip toes trying to gaze over the fence into the garden of the future?
A company founded 119 years ago by automotive obsessed brothers. A first rally/endurance win in 1902 (116 years ago). A first Grand Prix format win in 1906 (112 years ago). First turbo-powered win 1979 (39 years ago). 176 wins, 12 Constructors' Championship wins (combining roles as both a supplier and constructor) and powered drivers to 11 world championship titles.
No matter how one views those facts they are impressive reading. Over a century of racing and winning. A passion for winning stretching back to 1902. A passion for innovation surviving world wars, and being cheeky enough to deliver the first winning turbo-equiped engine. Heck they even helped invent the mini-van segment in Europe with the 1985 Espace (...and then had the cheek to drop an F1 engine in it and have Prost terrorise multiple guests at a time around Grand Prix tracks - that's one school run I'd have signed-up for!).
So is Daniel all "Maxed-out" and cross-eyed, seeing greener grass where there are only mirages and a desert devoid of wins and all hope? Or is he reflective of racing history, aware of his own capabilities, and alive to the passion and focus he sees in the eyes of the Renault engineers, with whom he already has a long and understanding relationship?
I think those Renault brothers three are all smiling down, and are already loosening their boot laces, knowing they are about to indulge in a season long round of bubbly Shoeys. Yes Daniel, I believe the grass is greener over here, and please, bring the French bubbles with you my good man, for we are going to need plenty of it.
Max Noble.
Learn more about Max and check out his previous features, here
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