(Mon 02 Jul 07)

This weekend's British Grand Prix will mark the 30th anniversary of a major contribution by Renault.

It was at the same event on 14 July 1977 that Renault debuted its RS01, the first-ever turbocharged Formula 1 car which became known as "the yellow teapot". At the time, Renault had an unusually high level of experience with turbocharged race engines, winning the Le Mans 24 Hour event with a turbo sports car before turning its attention to F1.

The goal at the time was to match the power outputs (roughly 450bhp) of the existing naturally-aspirated three-litre engines, such as the Ferrari V12 and Cosworth V8, with a forced-induction 1.5-litre alternative which was allowed under what at that time was a generally ignored rule.

Another route to the same end which received serious consideration was to cobble together a <ital>nine</ital>-cylinder unit from one and a half 300bhp two-litre V6 Formula 2 engines, but turbocharging proved to have a more promising future.

It didn't seem that way at the time. It took until 1979 for Jean-Pierre Jabouille to score the first victory for an F1 Renault turbo at the French Grand Prix, though that race is better remembered for the amazing battle for second place - still one of the greatest the sport has ever seen - between Jabouille's team-mate Rene Arnoux and Ferrari driver Gilles Villeneuve.

Even then, not everyone was convinced, but over the next few years turbocharging became commonplace, and eventually compulsory. F1 racing being what it is, it was then banned, but not before power outputs had reached extraordinary levels; in the days when teams built massively boosted "grenade" engines (so-called because they tended to explode after two laps - if you were lucky - of qualifying), the BMW turbo was reputed to produce over 1400bhp.

Ironically, Renault never won the World Championship with a turbocharged F1 car, though it did supply engines to title-winning teams.

To celebrate the anniversary, Renault has painted one of its 2006 R26 cars in the predominantly yellow and black colour scheme of the RS01. The original "yellow teapot" has been driven by both Jabouille and Arnoux at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in recent years, and also by Arnoux in the 2005 World Series by Renault race meeting at Donington.

Of course, Renault's F1 history goes a long way further back than the introduction of its first turbo car. Company founder Louis Renault was one of the top drivers in the early years of the 20th century, and it was a Renault which won inaugural Grand Prix, held in 1906 (see our feature, The First Grand Prix ).

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