Renault’s RS01 turbocharged Formula 1

Renault entered F1 in 1977 and was the first team to take advantage of a clause that allowed forced induction. It had been in the regulations since 1966, but no other team had tried it. The regulation allowed the use of turbo or superchargers with a capacity limited to 1.5 litres versus the 3.0-litre limit of naturally aspirated rivals. While other teams were experimenting with ground effects (Lotus 78) and even six wheels (Tyrrell P34), none had tried turbocharging.

The French team already had a 2.0-litre turbocharged V6 for sportscar racing that was runner-up at the 1977 Le Mans and overall winner a year later; it made sense to reduce the capacity and use it for its F1 debut. The cast iron 90-degree V6 had its single turbo mounted below the engine with the compressor fed through the V of the engine. The intercooler was located near the rollbar, so not ideally positioned for air intake.

In the RS01’s day, teams didn’t have to commit to a full season with two cars, so Renault was able to enter one experimental car and be selective as to which races would suit its power delivery. Jean-Pierre Jabouille drove it and was instrumental to the development of the André de Cortanze-designed car. But as we said: innovation isn’t always easy; Renault made its F1 debut at the 1977 British Grand Prix, from which it retired. Of the four other races that year, the RS01 retired from three and failed to qualify for the fourth.

The 1978 season would also test the team’s tenacity with no fewer than nine DNFs. By the 15^th round at Watkins Glen, Jabouille finally scored the car’s first World Championship points with a fourth-place finish. The thin oxygen at the circuit’s high altitude was a hindrance for the big-capacity naturally aspirated engines, but not so for the forced induction 1.5-litre V6.

The following season, Jabouille claimed the first F1 pole position for a turbocharged car at the South African Grand Prix in Kyalama. He was joined by René Arnoux in a second RS01, and the rest of the field was starting to catch on to the benefits of forced induction.

Over the next three seasons, most other teams had made the move, and it defined the 1980s. There was a trickle-down effect to high performance road cars, too, with turbocharging becoming increasingly popular in the ‘more-is-more’ decade.

It may have been a tortured couple of years, but the RS01 paved the way to the more driveable twin-turbocharged RS10, and onwards to Renault’s two World Championships, plus another ten as the motive power for Williams, Benetton and Red Bull, respectively. There was also the side innovation of the RS01’s radial Michelin tyres, the first non-crossplies in F1.

It was reportedly Ken Tyrrell who nicknamed the RS01 ‘The Yellow Kettle’, but with the benefit of hindsight we know that it was turbocharging that would keep F1 racing on the boil and steaming ahead. 

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