Renault R24

The Renault R24 is a Formula One car that competed in the 18 Grands Prix of the 2004 Formula One World Championship.

Design and development

The chassis was designed by Mike Gascoyne, Bob Bell, Tim Densham and Dino Toso with Pat Symonds overseeing the design and production of the car as executive director of Engineering and Bernard Dudot leading the engine design.

R24B

Renault brought a new, updated R24B model to San Marino Grand Prix, featuring new cylinder heads, inlet system and related changes to the bottom part of the engine.

Racing history

The car showed speed and reliability during the season, managing to outpace both the Williams and McLaren, as well as proving to be a consistent challenger to the equally fast BAR Hondas of Jenson Button and Takuma Sato. However, it was bested by the Ferrari F2004 of Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello, with which the Ferrari duo won 15 of the 18 races in 2004. Going into the season, Renault announced that their driver line-up was Jarno Trulli and Fernando Alonso.

The team became real contenders for second place in the Constructors' Championship when Trulli and Alonso placed third and fourth respectively during the Spanish Grand Prix. Trulli won the Monaco Grand Prix. However, his relationship with Renault (particularly with team principal and Trulli's ex-manager Flavio Briatore) deteriorated after he was consistently off the pace in the latter half of the year, and made claims of favouritism in the team towards Alonso (though the two teammates themselves remained friendly).

The French Grand Prix is considered the final straw for Renault, where Trulli was overtaken by Rubens Barrichello in the final stages of the last lap, costing Renault a double podium finish at their home Grand Prix. Trulli was later fired after failing to score points in 5 successive races. After that, he announced that he was joining Toyota F1 for the following year and left Renault early, driving the Toyota in the last two races of the 2004 season.

Hoping to secure second place in the Constructors' Championship, Renault replaced Trulli with World Champion Jacques Villeneuve for the final three races. However, Villeneuve — away from F1 racing for almost an entire season — struggled to adjust quickly to racing at the premier level and did not impress, resulting in the team finishing third behind Villeneuve's former team - BAR with 105 points.

Livery

The livery was completely different from the previous two seasons with removal of the dark blue accent on the engine cover whereas the rear wing was previously white. The season saw Renault receive new sponsorship from Telefónica and i-Mode while Hanjin was retained for a second year.

Renault used the 'Mild Seven' logos, except at the Canadian, French and British Grands Prix, where they were replaced with their number and driver names.

Use in ''Top Gear''

The R24 was "loaned" to The Stig for an episode of ''Top Gear''. Renault claimed it would go around the Top Gear Test Track in less than one minute; the R24 got around in 59.0 seconds.Top Gear Series 5, Episode 8 2004.12.19 - Renault R24 Formula One car segment. It was later revealed by Renault that the R24 was driven not by the regular Stig, but rather their test driver Heikki Kovalainen, disguised as the Stig.

Complete Formula One results

( key) (results in bold indicate pole position)

References

{{F1 cars 2004

R24
2004 Formula One season cars