Patrick Faure (), born May 12, 1946, is a French businessman. His best-known role was in motorsport, as

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

of Renault Sport and Renault F1 Team.

Early career and education

Faure was born in

Périgueux Périgueux (, ; or ) is a commune in the Dordogne department, in the administrative region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, southwestern France. Périgueux is the prefecture of Dordogne, and the capital city of Périgord. It is also the seat of ...

(

Dordogne Dordogne ( , or ; ; ) is a large rural departments of France, department in south west France, with its Prefectures in France, prefecture in Périgueux. Located in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region roughly half-way between the Loire Valley and ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, but spent his youth in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. He had a strong relationship with his father, Maurice Faure, a former

Cahors Cahors (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the western part of Southern France. It is the smallest prefecture among the 13 departments that constitute the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Region. The capital and main city of t ...

city mayor and minister of various French governments. He studied law and politics at the

Lycée Louis-le-Grand The Lycée Louis-le-Grand (), also referred to simply as Louis-le-Grand or by its acronym LLG, is a public Lycée (French secondary school, also known as sixth form college) located on Rue Saint-Jacques (Paris), rue Saint-Jacques in central Par ...

before being awarded a place in the École Nationale d’Administration. He graduated in 1972 and worked for three years as a civil administrator of the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations. In 1975, he moved to the private sector and joined the precision engineering company Labinal. In 1977, he became Chairman of Gelbon.

Renault

In 1977, he was hired by

Renault Renault S.A., commonly referred to as Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English), is a French Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company curr ...

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

's regional manager. After that, he took over the sales department. He increased his importance within Renault’s structure over the years, and he was manager of Renault

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

(1981) and Renault UK (1982). In 1985, he was named head of the Public Affairs and Corporate Communications Department. In January 1986 he was appointed a member of Renault’s board of directors and President of Renault Sport. The motorsport company was in a complex situation, and Faure decided to end Renault's Formula One involvement. He ordered Bernard Dudot to develop a new 3.5-litre normally aspirated

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ge ...

. When the turbos were banned, Renault returned to Grand Prix racing. In 1988, he was named Secretary General for the Renault Group. In 1991, he was officially appointed chairman and CEO of Renault Sport. In 1998, he became chairman and CEO of Renault VI. In 2001, he was named Executive Vice President of Renault and President of Renault F1 Team. In late 2004, he left the Renault’s board of directors. As of January 2005, he was concentrating his efforts on the Renault racing team. He announced his retirement in March 2006 during a radio interview at the conclusion of the Bahrain Grand Prix and was replaced as president of the Renault F1 team by Alain Dassas on April 3, 2006.

Beyond Renault

Since 1993 he has been a member of

Vinci SA Vinci (; corporately styled VINCI) is a French concessions and construction company founded in 1899 as Société Générale d'Entreprises. Its head office is in Nanterre, in the western suburbs of Paris. Vinci is listed on Euronext's Paris st ...

Board of Directors A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...

. His appointment was set to end in 2013. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of Cofiroute, a

motorway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway, and expressway. Other similar terms ...

s' concessionaire which is owned by Vinci. He held several appointments in other companies, such as chairman of the Board of Directors of Ertico, Chairman of the Association France-Amériques, Director of ESL & Network and of Waterslim Luxembourg. On October 10, 2006, the nuclear energy company

Areva Areva S.A. was a French multinational group specializing in nuclear power, active between 2001 and 2018. It was headquartered in Courbevoie, France. Before its 2016 corporate restructuring, Areva was majority-owned by the French state through t ...

, sponsor of the French team for the 2007 America’s Cup, hired Faure as a project consultant, because of his experience in organising large sport operations. He remains as a company consultant but is now retired.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Faure, Patrick Living people 1946 births People from Périgueux Sportspeople from Dordogne Renault people Formula One people French motorsport people École nationale d'administration alumni