Renault F1 Team - Renault R30

The Renault R30 was launched at Valencia today in the late afternoon, once the Sauber launch and associated press activity had subsided. The car was unveiled in the pitlane with a full, possibly too-full, complement of drivers and of course the team's new majority owner.

After last year's scandal over the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix race fixing, Renault came very close to pulling out all together from F1, eventually deciding instead to sell a majority share in the team to Genii Capital which has subsequently resulted in a new team principal, Eric Bollier, being appointed.

Robert Kubica signed for Renault when the team was still a full works team but after talks with the new management elected to stay on. A few days before the launch rumours began to circulate around the identity of his team mate and those were confirmed at the launch when Russian Vitaly Petrov was presented to the media. The team has also retained not one, but two test drivers. The official reserve is Chinese driver Ho-Pin Tung while Frenchman Jerome D'Ambrosio and Czech Jan Charouz are also classed as reserve drivers. One can't help but feel that now the team isn't being bankrolled solely by Renault, these addition drivers may be bringing some much-needed money with them in exchange for getting to circulate - if not on track, then at least in the paddock. Hopefully Renault will consider giving them some Friday track time now that the test driver regulations have been tweaked.

When the covers were taken off the R30 I thought for a moment that I'd fallen through a time warp and into a late 90's Jordan launch. The car's livery harks back to the 70's with a primarily 'Renault Yellow' scheme, sprinkled with liberal helpings of black - most noticeable on the big rectangular slab that is the airbox/shark fin. That said the car is both pretty and neatly packaged. The team have repackaged the rear end of the car and designed a full double-decker diffuser - which the team were understandably coy about having photographed. Between the driver and diffuser is an enlarged fuel tank and the 2010 version of Renault's RS27 engine, said to be relatively frugal with respect to fuel, and a seven speed titanium gearbox.

Robert Kubica comes to the team having impressed mightily with BMW Sauber where he replaced Jacques Villeneuve for the final races of the 2006 season. Kubica is quick, very quick, and in a reasonably competitive car could give anybody a run for their money. He is a proven race winner, having taken victory in Canada and visited the podium six more times in 2008. Definitely one of the hot properties of 2009 and Renault will be pleased to have held on to him.

Vitaly Petrov comes to Formula One from four years in GP2 racing (three with Campos) which culminated with second overall in 2009. As the first Russian to hold a race seat in Formula One he will make history when he starts his first race at Bahrain. Aged 25 you could say he is relatively lucky to land a seat having spent four years - definitely a longer than average stint for an F1 graduate - in GP2. All is explained by a healthy helping of sponsorship - rumoured to be over the million pounds.

So what can we expect from Renault in 2010? The 2009 car was not good, so the team will be expecting to rebuild their technical reputation with a well-executed car. Couple that with Kubica, who is both fast and hungry for wins (and more) and Renault could yet surprise. However there have to be some question marks over Petrov - how much of a speed deficit does a suitcase-full of cash buy?

author: Phil Haigh