Renault celebrates 100 years of Grand Prix racing
Renault and the Renault F1 Team will celebrate Grand Prix racing’s centenary this weekend at the French Grand Prix. 100 years on from the first Renault-Michelin victory at the Grand Prix de l’Automobile Club de France in Le Mans, the entire team will be hoping to mark a centenary of success in 2006.
Much has changed since Ferenc Szisz crossed the finish line at Le Mans after more than 12 hours of racing to take the chequered flag – and the title of first Grand Prix winner. More significant than the changes, thought, are the similarities – as man and machine push themselves to the limits to demonstrate sporting and technical excellence on circuits across the globe.
Every Renault victory is drawn from, and enriches, a motorsport DNA that runs right back to its source: the ingenuity and competitive drive of brothers Louis and Marcel Renault, from a small workshop in Billancourt just south-west of Paris. The desire to prove their abilities drove them to demonstrate a voiturette up the steep incline of Rue Lépic in Paris’ Montmartre in 1898; to take victory in the Paris-Vienna race of 1902 with a ‘light car’ design against bigger, faster machines; and also to enter the Grand Prix in 1906, an official return to racing for Louis Renault after the death of brother Marcel in 1903, to once again demonstrate the excellence and ingenuity of his company’s designs.
Since those pioneer days, Renault has won the Formula 1 World Constructors’ Championship seven times (six times as an engine manufacturer, once as a works team), twice taken victory in the Monaco Grand Prix with its own team (2004/06), and conquered the Le Mans 24 Hour race with the Alpine-Renault that triumphed in 1978 at the hands of Jean-Pierre Jaussaud and Didier Pironi. At its home race, it has taken pole position seven times (1979/81/82/83/84/2004/05), won the race five times (1979/81/82/83/2005) and as an engine manufacturer in 1996, took a famous 1/2/3/4 finish with the Williams and Benetton teams.
Furthermore, it is a tradition that has been built alongside loyal partners. Fernando Alonso’s Canadian Grand Prix victory was the 100th for Michelin in Formula 1 – 100 years after Szisz’s Michelin-shod Renault triumphed at Le Mans. Alonso’s Barcelona success marked 100 wins for the partnership between Renault and Elf, begun back in 1977 – and Elf also passed the 150 F1 wins milestone at the 2006 British Grand Prix.
Yet as milestones are passed, and records fall, one truth remains. That each success, every victory, small and great, are only enabled by the dedication and passion of the women and men who pursue ever greater challenges. In 2006, motorsport may not directly develop the cars of tomorrow, but it does express a company’s passion, its soul and its expertise. This weekend’s centenary is also a commemoration of those values that continue to drive the Renault F1 Team forward today.
