Founded by the Renault brothers - Louis, Marcel and Fernand - as Societe Renault Freres, the French company manufactured its first car, the Renault Voiturette 1CV way back in 1898. The brothers knew early on that participating in events of speed would give their company the required exposure and establish their brand in the market.

Thus Louis and Marcel began to participate in local races and the exposure thus garnered, stood the company in good stead with an increasing plethora of buyers.

In the late seventies and early eighties, Renault realized the true importance of participation in motor sport and thus began to involve itself heavily in it. Renault set up a dedicated division called Renault Sport Technologies (known usually as just Renault Sport). This division helped the company in winning titles at the Le Mans 24 Hour race besides various other rallies. However, the Renault F1 team and the Formula One teams are not part of this division.

The AK 90CV from the Renault stable won the first ever Grand Prix event in 1906. However, its foray into Formula One in 1997 raised many eyebrows. For theirs was the first car with a turbocharger. Though the turbocharged car didn't help them win, they had to wait another couple of years before they did their first F1 event at home in Dijon.

Renault began to compete in Formula One from the 1970s as both, engine supplier and as constructor. This association was not continuous though. There were many interregnums during its foray into F1.

From thence, Renault cars won the Formula One championships in 1992, 93, 96 and 97 with Williams and in association with Benetton in 1995.

When Renault completely took over the Benetton F1 team in 2001 for $ 120 million, they were truly into the big league and took competition seriously. Renault however, continued to use the Benetton name for the 2000 and 2001 seasons. They roped in Fernando Alonso who won for them their first race at the Hungarian GP in 2003. He also guided the team to the Constructors and Drivers titles in 2005.

However, the Benetton team is better known for grand successes with the legendary Michael Schumacher who helped the team with 19 titles and two Drivers championships.

When in 1995, Schumacher moved to Ferrari, the Benetton team lost a lot of its glamour and fame. It just wasn't what it was.

It was not all dulcet for Renault though. In 1985, Renault was plagued my massive financial problems and so sustaining the huge expenses required for Formula One team proved to be too much of a burden. This is when they decided to cut down on expenses from the racing team and instead focused only on supplying engines.

Coming to 2008, the team has shown excellent resolve in notching up two wins through Fernando Alonso. While Nelson Piquet Jr. erred on the side of irresponsible throughout the season, Alonso has shown tremendous fight in improving the car.

2010 did not see Renault as a contender for the front runners. With Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari caught in a battle to the end, Renault could only provide minor challenge to Mercedes GP, ending the season at 5th.

With a new partner, Lotus, Renault or Lotus Renault as it is known now has the potential to be a force worthy of competition. With Robert Kubica out of racing for now, succumbing to his rally accident and an extremely underperforming Vitaly Petrov taking playing second fiddle, Lotus Renault's season is off to a rough start.