When the planets lined up favourably Alonso dragged a Renault to a couple of wins in 2008 but there's been nothing since. We predict The new livery and clever design tweaks may be just smoke and mirrors. 'I think it will be the envy of the grid.' 'We've got a paint job this year which looks utterly magnificent,' says their technical director, James Allison. 'The objective for the team is to finish within the top three in the championship,' roars the chief operating officer, Patrick Louis, and they think the car looks as good as it drives. They predict Chest-thumping confidence abounds. Well, obscure if you're not actually Lithuanian. The team still came close to careering into a giant financial tyre wall last year only to be rescued by a hefty loan from an obscure Lithuanian bank. Ended a 17‑year exodus by buying Benetton in 2002 and producing cars that are nothing like little teapots, though they are short and stout.įuelled by Gérard Lopez, polyglot owner of Luxembourg investment group Genii Capital – who bought 75% of the team in 2009 – made much of his money from a canny early investment in Skype. In the rear-view mirror Renault's late-70s introduction to Formula One so often ended in clouds of steam and plenty of time for a sit‑down that their brightly coloured car became known as the Yellow Teapot.

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