History was made during the 1979 French Grand Prix. The epic fight between Gilles Villeneuve in a Ferrari 312 T4 and René Arnoux in a Renault RS10 is the stuff of legend. But however tantalising the wheel-to-wheel fight was, it was ‘only’ for second position for, while all eyes were on the brawling duo, Jean-Pierre Jabouille was making history as he drove his Renault to the very first grand prix win for a turbo-engined Formula 1 car.
Three seasons in the making, Jabouille’s victory did not come easily. The first Renault grand prix racer was dubbed RS01 but, especially in the British media, was often referred to as the ‘yellow teapot’ as the French V6 engine that powered it had a habit of expiring quite spectacularly. Very much an experimental racecar, not only was the RS01 the first F1 car powered by a turbocharged engine, it was also the first to use radial tyres.
Sportscar victory
During the 1977 and 1978 seasons, Renault Sport ran its F1 programme alongside a sportscar effort. Although very different machines, both racecars used versions of the same, single turbo, V6 engine The sportscar programme came to a natural close in 1978 when Didier Pironi and Jean-Pierre Jaussaud beat the Porsches to victory in the 24 Hours of Le
