To celebrate its 40 years of success, passion and pride of appearing amongst the historic F1 makes, Renault decided to revive this anecdote from the past by creating an actual “Yellow Teapot”.
Renault’s decision to enter the very exclusive Formula 1 world was made in 1975. It took effect in 1977 with a car called the RS01. For the managers of that period, the entry into Formula 1 had to do with introducing engine technology advances. After studies and a lot of thinking, Renault chose a turbo compressed engine. No team used that technology in Formula 1 then, while it was revelatory of Renault’s will and ambition.
So it was at the 1977 Silverstone Grand Prix that Renault took up its position with the first Formula 1 turbo engine in history. Still today, modern Formula 1 models use this technology.
It was foreseeable that technical difficulties and reliability problems would crop up. So, carrying the make’s colours – dominant yellow, black and white – the RS01 often entered the stands lane streaming white smoke, synonymous with engine trouble.
Ken Tyrrell, the boss of the eponymous team, seeing the smoking car pass in front of his garage, yelled out the nickname “Yellow Teapot” as a joke. The expression became popular among the membres of his team. Then other teams followed and the RS01 was thereafter nicknamed The Yellow Teapot.
To celebrate its 40 years of success, passion and pride of appearing amongst the historic F1 makes, Renault decided to revive this anecdote from the past by creating an actual “Yellow Teapot”
Renault won its first Formula 1 victory just two years later. That happened at the Grand Prix de France in Dijon, in 1979, with the RS01. This victory of Jean-Pierre Jabouille, engineer and driver of the RS01, was an exploit and prowess in terms of speed to winning.
This success and the following ones validated the concept of the Turbo in Formula 1. And it also won the respect of the British teams, led by the Tyrell team.
This teapot will equip the kitchens of the Atelier Renault restaurant on the Champs-Elysées starting in September.
In design terms, the inspiration for the Yellow Teapot is from the past and present. Its roots are in the RS01, but also in the new RS17.
It’s a teapot that takes up all the aesthetic codes of the Renault Formula 1 and plays on the design, the graphics and the colours.
The manufacturer recommends a sale price of €129. There will be only 40 copies of the teapot. They will be available from September 2017.
