MOTORSPORT: Renault first out of F1 blocks

Now a fully-fledged Formula 1 constructor again, Renault is the first team to reveal its car for the new season starting in Melbourne in six weeks.

At a launch in Paris overnight, the French manufacturer confirmed that it has resurrected the career of young Danish driver Kevin Magnussen, who replaces crash-prone Venezuelan former “moneybags” Pastor Maldonado.

The focus of the launch was very much on the team that has raced as Lotus in recent times but which Renault bought back after having sold it in 2009.

There was little talk of the company’s relationship with Red Bull Racing, strained after two seasons of uncompetitive Renault V6 hybrid power units, but continuing this season – with RBR’s engines now to be badged TAG Heuer.

Renault chiefs vowed that RBR’s Australian driver Daniel Ricciardo and Russian Daniil Kyvat would have exactly the same equipment behind them as Magnussen and his rookie teammate, Briton Jolyon Palmer.

Renault’s top man, Carlos Ghosn, said the company saw motorsport as essential – it’s also committed to the Formula E electric open-wheeler international series – and was intent on winning, although he conceded that even regular podiums in F1 may take up to three years.

“We are not here [just] to participate, we are here to compete at the highest level and eventually win,” Ghosn said.

“[But] it’s not going to happen in 2016 – it’s going to take more time.”

Cyril Abiteboul, in charge of the company’s F1 efforts as boss of Renault Sport Racing, said there was “no reason why we cannot repeat” its earlier success as a constructor, which included two world titles with Spanish driver Fernando Alonso in 2005-06.

Renault’s RS16 car for this season, which begins with the Australian Grand Prix on March 18-20, was revealed in black livery with only flashes of the company’s familiar yellow.

Magnussen, 23, returns to F1 after the McLaren team severed ties with him in the middle of last year.

The Dane was second on his debut in Melbourne two years ago, after Ricciardo’s Red Bull was disqualified for pumping its fuel too fast, but lost his McLaren seat when Alonso returned to the British team from Ferrari and Brit Jenson Button was retained as his teammate.

Maldonado brought massive sponsorship - to the Williams team for three years and then Lotus for two – from Venezuelan state-owned oil company PDVSA, but that dried up with the collapse in oil prices and political changes in the country.

In any case, Renault preferred to work with French oil company Total.

The other 10 F1 teams – including American newcomer Haas – will roll out new cars from mid-February, with two four-day pre-season tests scheduled in Barcelona.

Red Bull’s launch will be in London on February 17, followed by Ferrari online the next day.