A challenging year for the Alpine team has been tough for French connections in Formula 1. Based in the UK yet owned by the Renault Group and with power delivered from the southern side of Paris to provide two French drivers with opportunities to shine, it hasn’t delivered results. In a period when the nation that hosted the first motorsport events in the 1890s no longer holds an F1 race, it feels as though there is a gap developing.
Perhaps I’m biased; the first road car I drove as a teenager on the family farm was a Renault 4. I was also taken to Silverstone to watch the 1979 British GP two weeks after Renault had scored its first F1 win at Dijon in France with Jean-Pierre Jabouille. Renault missed out on a second win, but René Arnoux achieved back-to-back podiums with second. The turbo 1.5-litre V6 engine was showing good form after two years of poor reliability and would soon be battling yet failing for titles while inspiring others to follow the same technical theme.
