Renault RS01

The Renault RS01 was the first Formula One car powered by a turbocharged engine, and the first to run on radial tyres supplied by Michelin. It was the first car designed by the newly formed Renault Sport division, created by merging the Alpine and Gordini competition departments, which explains its name. Renault built it around a 1.5 litre turbocharged engine, drawing on its turbocharged 2.0 litre V6 sports car engine that finished second at the 1977 24 Hours of Le Mans and won in 1978, and on the Alpine A500 test car. Designed by André de Cortanze and Jean-Pierre Jabouille, it first appeared at the 1977 British Grand Prix. It was chronically unreliable and was nicknamed the yellow teapot, but it scored its first points with a fourth place at the 1978 United States Grand Prix, and Jabouille took the first pole position for a turbo car in South Africa in 1979.