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Renault has been associated with Formula One as both constructors and engine suppliers for various periods since 1977. It was in 1977 that the company entered Formula One as a constructor, introducing the turbo engine to Formula One in their first car, the Renault RS01. Although the Renault team won races and competed for world titles, it withdrew at the end of 1985. Renault continued its involvement as a supplier of engines to other teams, which it had started doing in 1983, until 1986, and again from 1989 to 1997.
Renault returned to Formula One in 2000 when they acquired the Enstone-based Benetton Formula team, a team which had won the drivers' championship in 1994 and both the drivers' and constructors' championships in 1995. For the first two seasons under Renault the team continued to be called "Benetton Formula" and used "Benetton" as their constructor name. In 2002 Renault rebranded the team as the "Renault F1 Team" and started to use "Renault" as its constructor name. Under this Renault guise, the Enstone team won the drivers' and constructors' championships in 2005 and 2006.
At the end of 2009, the Renault car company sold a 75% stake in the team to the Genii Capital investment company. At the end of 2010, Renault sold its remaining 25% share to Genii, which then decided to enter into an alignment with Group Lotus.
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