Renault 2016 F1 team launch
Renault has revealed a striking black launch livery for its 2016 F1 challenger, the RS16.
The French manufacturer is competing in F1 as a full factory entrant for the first time since 2011 under the new name of Renault Sport Formula One Team.
The team’s car is based on the E23 it raced last year as Lotus, but with Renault power instead of Mercedes. “The RS16 is an evolution of our previous cars,” explained designer Nick Chester, “particularly our 2015 car, but incorporating the Renault power unit.” Renault said the power unit produces around 875bhp.
The late confirmation of Renault’s takeover means the team faced “quite a change to architecture right at the last minute,” according to Chester.
“It’s been a real challenge to incorporate the Renault Sport power unit. We made the decision very late to put the Renault Sport power unit in and the amount of work you have to do to re-sculpt the chassis, change the cooling geometry, all in the matter of a few months, has been a really big effort for Enstone. But now we’re all the way through the crash testing it’s been a really good effort.”
Chester confirmed the team intends to continue using the E23-derived car while making an early start on plans for 2017, when a sizeable change in the regulations is currently planned.
“The technical challenges for 2016 are partly rebuilding the team, so getting strength back in the areas where we were weak, and then improving what’s hopefully a reasonable baseline car through the year and developing our strength,” he said.
“Then as we get into 2017 the regulations are a huge change and that’s a car we want to start early, look at all the concepts we might want to bring to 2017.”
Renault first entered F1 as a team between 1977 and 1985, then returned between 2002 and 2011, during which time it took the constructors’ championship twice and saw its driver Fernando Alonso win two drivers’ titles.
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Miguel Sampaio (@gordess)
3rd February 2016, 12:44
They forgot to paint the car!!!!
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
3rd February 2016, 12:55
@gordess Looks like Sauber’s 1992 test car…
Miguel Sampaio (@gordess)
3rd February 2016, 12:57
@keithcollantine Nice catch!
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
4th February 2016, 16:04
@keithcollantine and the old black and yellow minardis. I like it but another dark coloured livery.
Pat Ruadh (@fullcoursecaution)
3rd February 2016, 12:58
It reminds me of supernova F3000 cars
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
3rd February 2016, 13:13
@fullcoursecaution Yeah I can see the Supernova similarity.
Miguel Sampaio (@gordess)
3rd February 2016, 14:12
After seing these new photos, there is actually one thing I like about this livery @keithcollantine: the “honeycomb efect” at the back! If only they had put those hexagons in yellow to make the car a little less bland…
PT (@pt)
4th February 2016, 3:36
@gordess
Absolutely! I was expecting much more yellow – is the team thinking bland is beautiful or bland is successful? But this is an interim livery. Hopefully the arrival of some sponsors would make it more attractive.
MarkM
3rd February 2016, 14:25
Looks like Pirelli’s test car…
Miguel Sampaio (@gordess)
3rd February 2016, 15:04
+1
Apex Assassin
3rd February 2016, 15:27
F1 Fanatic gets extra credit points for being one of the few outlets to accurately report that this is an “interim” livery! Kudos Keith! I appreciate the high level of accuracy you provide!
BTB
3rd February 2016, 15:27
The cynic in me thinks they kept the black to save on the cost of having to repaint their lorry trailers and motor home….
PT (@pt)
4th February 2016, 3:37
@BTB
Good thinking…that could well be the case!
Lewis McMurray (@celicadion23)
3rd February 2016, 12:45
This had better be the test livery….what a waste of potential for something exciting if this is their race colours.
Manox (@marussi)
3rd February 2016, 12:48
sometimes i think that the people doing the livery has forgot about colors like , yellow, white, green, pink and so on.
Miguel Sampaio (@gordess)
3rd February 2016, 12:48
Well, Jérome Stoll left the door open for another livery at the start of the championship so fingers crossed!
just.daz (@nemo87)
3rd February 2016, 12:49
It will change for Melbourne *sigh of relief*
Miguel Sampaio (@gordess)
3rd February 2016, 12:52
Is that confirmed? Because they only said “You guess!”…
Lewis McMurray (@celicadion23)
3rd February 2016, 12:56
I’m predicting it will change……from black to very very very very dark grey. Not getting my hopes up but hopefully we’ll be pleasantly surprised. I was really hoping they would at least draw from the Formula E livery
Apex Assassin
3rd February 2016, 15:28
The article above that you failed to read clearly states it is an “interim” livery. That means temporary/subject to change.
Will Wood (@willwood)
3rd February 2016, 12:46
Wiz Khalifa approved.
Manox (@marussi)
3rd February 2016, 12:46
I would prefer more yellow stripes or something. its good looking in black but …. no just no
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
3rd February 2016, 12:46
A strikingly horrible livery… they didn’t even bother…
Was it really THAT HARD to add a splash of white? just a line somewhere… Something! this lack of imagination is beyond belief. And it’s a trend that applies to every team!
Manox (@marussi)
3rd February 2016, 12:48
i loved the way he said the livery is good and complemented the guy who did it. is just black! even i could do that xD
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
3rd February 2016, 12:54
@marussi it’s like when you used Paint and you used the bucket wrong and the whole thing became 1 colour. They just didn’t bother doing a design.
I wonder, tho, if it has to do with the fact that the PDVSA deal went down days before the launch.
Dragon (@dragon88)
3rd February 2016, 13:06
That’s a fair point about PDVSA, I hadn’t thought about that.
MarkM
3rd February 2016, 14:28
@fer-no65 I disagree, well for at least one team, Red Bull. They have many colors, its just that we have gotten so used to them and it looks gray in our mind. But their car is colorful
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
3rd February 2016, 15:16
Red Bull are the worse with their lack of imagination. Red Bull is a company that supports every sort of extreme sports, even space jumpers. Their marketing department does a terrific job, putting the Red Bull logos in every corner at exciting events, and they show themselves as a fun and bold company. Very aggresive marketing.
Yet they have never changed the livery of their 2 teams since they entered the sport. Their liveries are way too boring now: colourful yeah, but it’s been the same for 10 years. A camo-livery for them seemed a lot more appropiate with their brand but that didn’t happen either!
JerseyF1 (@jerseyf1)
3rd February 2016, 16:36
The RB1 and RB11 liveries and colours are really quite different. Of course the fact that the Red Bull logo and the words Red Bull are common to both means there is similarity but given that the main point of the exercise is to build the Red Bull brand it’s hardly a surprise.
Now Ferrari, that’s a team who haven’t really had a livery change for a while.
Apex Assassin
3rd February 2016, 15:29
INTERIM livery, sigh
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
3rd February 2016, 15:41
at the time of my comment, we didn’t know it was an interim livery, mate ;)
PT (@pt)
4th February 2016, 3:40
I think the point made by BTB could well be the reason…Just a hunch, judging by its similarity to the Lotus colours!
OmarRoncal - Go Seb!!! (@)
3rd February 2016, 12:50
Now we just need Haas to “surprise” us with another black or grey livery. BORING
JW
3rd February 2016, 12:51
It would be cool if they added splashes of color from their old liveries, i.e. blue from the Alonzo era, and yellow from the Kubica era…
PhilEReid (@philereid)
3rd February 2016, 12:52
I wonder if by the time we get to Melbourne, the colours will be inverted.
Pat Ruadh (@fullcoursecaution)
3rd February 2016, 12:56
Thats my thought too @gordess
They did say you will see come Melbourne, but the elegance of the design will remain.
Miguel Sampaio (@gordess)
3rd February 2016, 12:58
So basically, still black @fullcoursecaution. Or as @celicadion23 says “very very very very dark grey”
Pat Ruadh (@fullcoursecaution)
3rd February 2016, 13:01
Im ignorantly hoping they flip it to all yellow with dashes of black instead *fingers in ears*
Or maybe Haas will save they day and go Ferrari-badge yellow. If they adopt the Nascar livery it will look like the Manors
tektonnic
3rd February 2016, 14:05
NART! We want Haas in NART colours! WAY more appropriate given the link to Ferrari and the team’s patronage.
Apex Assassin
3rd February 2016, 15:30
Haas has said a few times the car won’t be yellow and consider Haas company colours I believe him.
BJ (@beejis60)
3rd February 2016, 15:00
@philereid Yellow tires with black stripes sounds really cool.
BrawnGP (@brawngp)
3rd February 2016, 13:02
Can see Kevin brought some money with him… (Jack Jones)
Miguel Sampaio (@gordess)
3rd February 2016, 14:07
@brawngp But they didn’t eve manage to get the positioning of the logo correctly… You can hardly read the name!
ColdFly F1 (@)
3rd February 2016, 14:33
I thought it was Back Bones!
That domain is for sale; somebody could create some free advertising ;-)
Mashiat (@mashiat)
3rd February 2016, 13:10
I have seen the majority of people saying that they don’t like it, but personally, I quite like it. It’s an improvement on the Lotus liveries at least.
John H (@john-h)
3rd February 2016, 13:52
I like it too.
Arrows98 (@arrows98)
3rd February 2016, 15:40
me too! this is how you do a black livery!!!
now take notes, McLaren…
Leen
3rd February 2016, 13:16
To me its obvious that they chose black color as they dont want to give away too much on their new car. Im sure that they will change the livery before the Melbourne GP.
Apex Assassin
3rd February 2016, 15:32
What’s to give away? It’s basically entirely last years car.
Dmitry (@albedo)
3rd February 2016, 13:17
In the light it looked like there were some splashes of purple at the back of the car. Here’s the screenshot https://pp.vk.me/c630126/v630126256/11687/b4kHOTYE4so.jpg
Manox (@marussi)
3rd February 2016, 13:23
That looked weird but i like it!
ColdFly F1 (@)
3rd February 2016, 14:36
In that image it looks great, but only if the tarmac were yellow! @albedo
Konstantinos Spatharas (@revenger210)
3rd February 2016, 13:27
good lord, that looks even more horrible!
Joey-Poey (@joey-poey)
3rd February 2016, 14:11
Judging by the photos above, that’s actually a matte black. Which I think is rather cool, truth be told. Don’t really see many racing cars messing with the two different finishes.
SatchelCharge (@satchelcharge)
3rd February 2016, 14:15
Very good point – it’s just some color aberrations going on. The tops of the tires are purple too………
SatchelCharge (@satchelcharge)
3rd February 2016, 14:14
That might look cool in sunlight. Or really bad. We’ll see
BJ (@beejis60)
3rd February 2016, 15:01
@albedo It’s matte black
BaKano (@bakano)
3rd February 2016, 13:22
Black and yellow is a good combination but we need more yellow!!!
Hopefully it is an interim livery. Hopefully…
Locky (@lockwste)
3rd February 2016, 13:23
Wish the colours were inverted.
drmouse (@drmouse)
3rd February 2016, 13:25
I completely disagree with many of the comments here:
I love this livery! Simple and elegant.
Grosjean's smile (@testacorsa)
3rd February 2016, 18:33
Me to!
Todfod (@todfod)
3rd February 2016, 13:25
I like the nose of the car
Todfod (@todfod)
3rd February 2016, 13:26
And good to see K-Mag standing next to it
The Blade Runner (@)
3rd February 2016, 13:49
I second that.
alanore (@alanore)
3rd February 2016, 19:09
I’m pretty sure that’s the nose the E23 ran in Abu Dhabi.
NewVerstappenFan (@jureo)
3rd February 2016, 13:27
:D This is excellent to my eyes. Perfect fundation for a “test” livery. What they need… is a fat yellow sponsor to put on the side…
So it all starts then. First car to be revealed… Will there be some video feed from tests? It is 2016, everyone and your mamma can provide a video stream these days, maybe even F1? Or is FOM banning them from doing so?
Konstantinos Spatharas (@revenger210)
3rd February 2016, 13:28
I am really afraid of the Infiniti logo on the back… I look forward to a proper yellow/black livery from Renault, but I fear with Infiniti on board, it might end up being purple, and thus very easy to screw up…
Duncan Snowden
3rd February 2016, 13:36
I have to say I’m slightly surprised by the negative reaction. Sure, it’s another black car, but it keeps a link with the black-and-gold of Lotus, and it’s certainly one of the tidiest designs ever to come out of Enstone. I like the restraint; the yellow on the insides of the endplates, for example. Granted, it might not look as good with different compound tyres on, but at least it doesn’t look as if they just let the mechanics loose with the paint and sponsor stickers at the last minute. That team’s had some horrific liveries in its time.
It’s not spectacularly exciting, maybe, but it’s hardly bad. And yeah, it’ll probably change come Melbourne.
petebaldwin (@)
3rd February 2016, 14:01
Sadly, that appears to be the best we can hope for these days – not a disaster….
I cannot remember a single livery from the last 5 years that was even a patch on some of the fan-designed liveries that appear online which look exciting, cutting edge, fun and striking…
davey (@djdaveyp87)
3rd February 2016, 13:55
I think it looks FANTASTIC
NeoGalaxy
3rd February 2016, 14:13
I can’t lie but I was sad when I saw the livery. But I don’t think it’s the final one, I hope they will come with something else for the 1st race. Same with Haas, since they never said it’s the livery when they presented the car.
Vishy
3rd February 2016, 14:45
I like this livery, looks very classy and cool. Especially the honeycomb pattern at the back and the distinctive yellow stripe in the middle.
NewVerstappenFan (@jureo)
3rd February 2016, 15:05
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nhakb-XD4SY
video of entire thing I saw on youtube…
BaKano (@bakano)
3rd February 2016, 16:58
Seeing the video it is 100% clear that the car will not look like this in Melbourne. Even though he puts it as a question he stated that only the “elegance” of this livery will remain, so I almost sure they are looking into another livery but want to keep it a secret or surprise. It might be dependent on future sponsors too…
On the other hand, McLaren was supposedly using their dull liveries for testing only, but have carried them into the racing season too (with minor changes)
Jorge Lardone (@jorge-lardone)
3rd February 2016, 15:13
Why not a yellow car? Black is boring…
J-Canada
3rd February 2016, 15:24
What’s up with the negative reactions? The livery is elegant and understated. Perhaps a dash more yellow would make it more interesting but the matte black detail is very nice!
davey (@djdaveyp87)
3rd February 2016, 16:07
It’s that kind of detail that makes it awesome. It’s not like they’ve slapped a load of black paint on it… there is a whole matt black design there on top too! The problem is, the CGI images do it no justice. On TV this car will look amazing!
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
3rd February 2016, 17:22
Black is considered an aggressive colour, so one shouldn’t be surprised to see some. I don’t have any problem with that colour scheme.
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
3rd February 2016, 17:12
If you look at the ground level front on view of the RS16, it looks like they removed the rear wheels before they took the photograph.
Fixy (@)
3rd February 2016, 18:52
Guys leave the elegant livery alone for a second… that’s their 2016 car? It’s hard to tell the details as everything is black, but the team saying it’s practically last year’s car with a different engine makes me fear for them. With Magnussen and Ocon I now like Palmer more! Then again the car is really pretty, and I hope it’s a regular points contender.
Tim M (@tim-m)
3rd February 2016, 19:16
If they swapped the black for a dark blue, it could resemble the old Tyrell Elf’s from the 70’s. That would be pretty cool.
AceAce
3rd February 2016, 20:21
Dark livery yes, sure beats all them bright coloured cars on the grid. Hope Renault don’t do something stupid like change their livery to yellow again, now that would be just dull. Sigh.
Island_Earth
3rd February 2016, 20:41
I really like the mate honeycomb on the rear. I think mate paint it’s something never seen before on a F1 car. Anyone knows about a precedent?
Scott Campbell
3rd February 2016, 21:03
More sponsors than Mclaren lol!
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
3rd February 2016, 21:27
I predict the yellow bits will be black, and the black bits will be yellow…
Attractively shaped car again, like the Lotus last year was up there with the Merc as one of the nicest.
hutch (@hutch)
3rd February 2016, 23:22
Reading between the lines, it sounds like the team are saying “expect us to be at the back of the gird this year”.
electrolite (@electrolite)
3rd February 2016, 23:55
Those matt bits! Looks good. Infact I’m a little disappointed it’s an interim livery, because I’ll bet anything they’ll make it worse on the real thing…
I think a lot of the disappointment is down to the amount of black liveries we’ve had in F1 lately. But this for me is much better.
Jon (@johns23)
4th February 2016, 0:25
I reckon they’ll flip this livery when it comes to the final one. Where the yellow is it will turn to black and where there’s black will turn to yellow. i hope so
kenneth
4th February 2016, 0:47
interesting comments….black is not a colour!!!! black absorbs all light.
davey (@djdaveyp87)
4th February 2016, 19:17
Black is a shade of grey, as is white.