Renault RS01
- Constructor
- renault
- Years
- 1977–1979
- Designers
- Andre de Cortanze, Jean-Pierre Jabouille, Francois Castaing
- Engine
- Renault-Gordini EF1 turbo V6
- Configuration
- 90-degree turbo V6, 1492 cc, turbocharged
- Power
- 510 bhp (About 510 bhp at 11,000 rpm; a single turbo at first, twin turbos later to attack the lag)
- Chassis
- aluminium monocoque
- Gearbox
- Hewland FGA 400 6-speed manual
- Suspension
- —
- Brakes
- disc
- Weight
- 605 kg
- Wheelbase
- —
- Tyres
- Michelin
- Races
- 19
- Wins
- 0
- Poles
- 0
- Drivers' titles
- 0
- Constructors' titles
- 0
- Specification confidence
- high
The rules allow 1.5 litres with a turbocharger against 3.0 without; nobody has tried it, so try it
The first turbocharged engine in Formula One, and the first radial tyres
It was slow, it was unreliable, and rival teams called it the yellow teapot for the cloud of white smoke it produced when it let go, which was often. It never won. But by 1983 every serious car had a turbo, by 1986 there was nothing else on the grid, and the naturally aspirated 3.0-litre engine that had defined Formula One since 1966 was gone.
25 races, no wins, one pole. The RS10 that followed it won at Dijon in 1979 - the first turbo victory.