The Renault R.S.20 is a

Formula One car A Formula One car or F1 car is a single-seat, open-cockpit, open-wheel racing car, open-wheel formula racing car used to compete in Formula One racing events. It has substantial front and rear wings, large wheels, and a turbocharged engine mid ...

2020 Formula One World Championship The 2020 FIA Formula One World Championship was the motor racing championship for Formula One cars which was the 71st running of the Formula One World Championship. It marked the 70th anniversary of the first Formula One World Drivers' Champ ...

. The chassis was designed by

Nick Chester Nick Chester (born 22 March 1969) is a motorsport engineer. Early life Chester graduated in engineering from Cambridge University in 1991. Career Chester joined Simtek Research in vehicle simulation, moving to their Formula One entry in 1994 ...

, Martin Tolliday, Simon Virrill, Matthew Harman and

Dirk de Beer Dirk Laurie de Beer (born 2 June 1963) is a South African Formula One aerodynamicist. He was most recently the head of aerodynamics at the Alpine team until March 2024. Biography De Beer joined Renault in 2008, where he worked under Dino Toso un ...

with

Marcin Budkowski Marcin Budkowski (born 23 April 1977) is a Polish Formula One engineer. He was notably the executive director of Alpine Formula One team. Education Budkowski graduated from École Polytechnique, Paris, in 1999 and continued his studies between ...

overseeing the design and production of the car as executive technical director and

Rémi Taffin Rémi Taffin (born 14 March 1975) is a French engineer who is the technical director of French firm Oreca. He was previously the engine technical director for the French Formula 1 team Alpine F1 and Renault Sport. He graduated in mechanical en ...

leading the powertrain design. The car was planned to make its competitive debut at the

2020 Australian Grand Prix The 2020 Australian Grand Prix (formally known as the Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix 2020) was a Formula One motor race that was due to be held on 15 March 2020 in Melbourne, Victoria. The race was to be contested at the Albert Park Cir ...

, but this was delayed when the next nine events in were cancelled or postponed in response to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. The R.S.20 made its debut at the

2020 Austrian Grand Prix The 2020 Austrian Grand Prix (officially known as the Formula 1 Rolex Großer Preis von Österreich 2020) was a Formula One auto racing, motor race that was held on 5 July 2020 at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Styria, Spielberg, Austria. The ...

. It was driven by

Daniel Ricciardo Daniel Joseph Ricciardo ( , ; born 1 July 1989) is an Australian racing driver, who most recently competed in Formula One from to . Ricciardo won eight Formula One Grands Prix across 14 seasons. Born and raised in Perth to Italian-Australi ...

and

Esteban Ocon Esteban José Jean-Pierre Ocon-Khelfane (; born 17 September 1996) is a French racing driver who competes in Formula One for Haas F1 Team, Haas. Ocon won the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix with Alpine F1 Team, Alpine. Born and raised in Normandy to ...

in 2020. Ricciardo scored Renault's first podium since it returned to Formula One at the 2020 Eifel Grand Prix, while Ocon scored his first career podium at the

2020 Sakhir Grand Prix The 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix (officially known as the Formula 1 Rolex Sakhir Grand Prix 2020) was a one-off Formula One motor race that took place on 6 December 2020. The race was contested over 87 laps of the 'Outer Circuit' configuration of the ...

. Because of financial and logistical challenges imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, an agreement was reached between the FIA and Formula One teams so that 2020 cars would be carried over to 2021, with development of certain areas of the cars frozen after the end of the 2020 season. The R.S.20 was updated for the 2021 season and rebranded as the Alpine A521 after Renault rebranded its Formula One team under the

Alpine Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to: Places Europe * Alps, a European mountain range ** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range Australia * Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village * Alpine National P ...

name.

Development

The Renault R.S.20 is the last car to have been designed by

during his time with the team. Chester was replaced as Technical Director in the 2019-20 off-season by former

McLaren McLaren Racing Limited ( ) is a British auto racing, motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. The team is a subsidiary of the McLaren Group, which owns a majority of the team. McLaren is best known a ...

Engineering Director

Pat Fry Pat Fry (born 17 March 1964) is a British motorsports engineer. Primarily working in Formula One, he has previously held positions with the Benetton, McLaren, Ferrari, Manor Racing, and Renault/Alpine teams. As of 2023, Fry is the chief technica ...

. Peter Machin was replaced as Head of Aerodynamics by Williams' former chief aerodynamicist

, who had returned to Renault after last working for the team in .

Complete Formula One results

( key)

;Notes Driver failed to finish the race but was classified as they had completed over 90% of the winner's race distance.

References

External links

Renault F1 Team official website
R.S.20 {{F1-stub