Renault R30 launch, 2010

Pictures: Renault R30 launched

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The Renault R30 has been unveiled by the team at Valencia. See the first pictures of the new car below.

Renault R30 launch

As was widely expected, the new livery marks a return to classic Renault yellow and black colours. The team used a similar scheme for its first F1 team from 1977 to 1985.

Since its return to F1 as a full constructor in 2002 Renault’s colour scheme has been largely dictated by sponsors.

Renault has lost 2009 title sponsors ING, who intended to pull out before 2010 but hastened their departure after the Singapore crash scandal. Mutua Madrilena also left the team at the same time.

Renault has also announced Vitaly Petrov will race for the team alongside Robert Kubica and revealed its two reserve drivers for 2010. More here:

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Renault R30 launch pictures

Pictures of the R30 at its launch:

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Renault R30 studio video

2010 F1 car launches

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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153 comments on “Pictures: Renault R30 launched”

    1. nice livery vintage im surprised the car looks different then last years i was expecting the same but that nose is a lot different

      1. that russian must be an millionaire to support Renault

      2. just joking

  1. Shows just how ridiculous the green rim on the tyres is.

  2. Is that it??? It hardly looks any different from the R29.

    1. It is the R29 isn’t it. Looks like the one proposed one before they had to change it when they failed the crash tests.

    2. Unfortunately, that’s my first reaction too.

  3. Yellow has returned to Formula 1… Hallelujah!

    1. the teams are slowly going back to there original colour schemes now, Mercedes with there silver, Renault are yellow/black again
      and Ferrari are red (obviously)

    2. What can I say about this livery other than…

      PERFECT.

      1. Nearly perfect, but I guess it’s not Total’s fault that whenever they were founded, they didn’t sync their corperate colours with those of Renault’s.

        1. I must be the only one that seems to love the Red. I think it makes it look even better.

          It looks a bit like a bee. How long will it take before we here Legard say something like…

          “The Renault certainly looks like a bee, but will it be able sting the opposition?”

  4. Why Red on the wings? Looks so out of place on Yellow and Black!

    Oh, and Petrov confirmed.

    1. Blame Total. It’s their colours. It would have looked much better with black sides instead of the red.

      However, that said I really like the new livery. Much better than last year’s McDonalds F1.

      1. Blame Total totally for the livery mess up.

  5. At last a relief! But looks like R29 painted in the retro livery. Waiting for close-ups of the nose :P

    1. It definitely looks like the R29

      1. I think you are right, as Tenault just anted to get the team and its livery launched today. New car is seemingly tucked away neatly in their gartrage awaiting for tomorrows anger and aggression.

    2. On Renault’s site they are described as studio pictures of the R30. But it looks a lot like the R29 – there’s no obvious sign of a larger fuel tank, for example.

      1. Any updates on this Keith? This has to be last year’s car, no?

        1. This comment from Cyclops is interesting as it seems the pictures taken this year and last year are very similar. But Renault say it is the R30.

          It could be this year’s car with last year’s aero. But even then the length and rear dimensions look too small.

          1. The whole car looks rather uninspiring and simple compared to what the other teams are unfurling from beneath their sheets.

          2. Boring car design, not a fan of the livery either (better than last year though)

          3. French motorsport journalist Jean-Louis Moncet reports on his blog that the car we were shown today (this isn’t quite clear) is “last year’s design” and a “mock-up based on the R29” and that the new, different car will “pu on the road very soon” (which seems an understatement as they’re set to test tomorrow!?) before “an evolution for Bahrein.” He also quotes Thibault Larue, another journalist, as saying that Renault are already planning an R30b for Canada.
            http://blog.autoplus.fr/moncet/2010/01/31/la-sauber-ferrari-et-la-renault-f1/

            Ay Caramba!

          4. The question is why where they hiding the diffuser from a last year car?
            Are they planning to go testing with an R29 that has an R30 diffuser?

  6. Renaults front wing is very basic, AGAIN. Do they not understand development?

  7. The blank sides of this renault should answer any questions anyone has about why Petrov is in the motorhome. Big comedown for a double world championship winning squad to have no sponsors. Maybe Nick Fry’s no so useless after all.*

    * I kid. Nick Fry’s utterly useless.

  8. The tail fin seem to be a norm now :(

    1. I’m equally saddened.

      1. If Red Bull wants to out do everybody on the tail fin theirs will go way beyond the rear wing :p

  9. According to Jon Noble’s Twitter, Petrov pulled the covers off the car with Kubica, so it looks like that deal is finalised.

  10. Yay, finally! What about Lotus then? They’ll have a black livery, right? Like Virgin Gp…

    1. lotus should be green and yellow.

      1. I think Tony Fernandes gave a hint that their livery would be green and yellow, so no reason to believe it’ll be black.

  11. Am I the only one who thinks that looks disgusting?

    1. As I said, I think the red looks out of place on an otherwise awesome livery.

      1. Yeah, I did some yellow and black designs a while ago and tried some red on them, but thought they looked wrong.

        Its the engine cover thats letting it down for me. Its horrible.

    2. i’m right with you jeznon.

    3. I think it looks horrible too, so no you are not the only one. lol

    4. Yeah, I’m with you. Traditional it may be but it doesn’t seem to work for me. Possibly because the car itself is (IMHO) ugly.

      I think a better looking car (e.g. the Ferrari F10) would make the livery look better

      1. However – it’s still MUCH better than the vomit inducing colourschemes at Renault for the last couple of years.

        1. I’m not sure about that lol… ok, last years was pretty bad, but I quite liked the 07 and 08 liveries.

          … still can’t get over that engine cover. Yes… yes, I’ve just been sick in my mouth.

          1. The blue and yellow colour scheme was just great from 2002 to 2006.

    5. NOPE. me too, its rough!

  12. I find it very nice to see the color yellow back on the grid.

  13. That looks stunning! I love the livery. The car however…looks a bit basic. Can’t imagine it being that quick.

    Looks like they’re waiting for a title sponsor, there’s a nice big empty space.

  14. What happened to TW Steel? I thought they had announced a sponsorship deal but I cant see them anywhere… *is confused*

    1. They’re on the mirrors. Really really small though

  15. i can see TW Steel’s sponsorship, look at the front of the sidepod, you would see it from a front veiw photo.

  16. official photos

  17. This reminds me slightly of the old Jordan, “snake”, “shark”, and “hornet” liveries.

    Only slightly mind.

    I think it looks cool except for the red on the wings.

  18. Renault should get an award for progressing from the worst livery in 2009 to the best livery in 2010.

    Way to go!!

  19. @Woffin TW steel on the nose cone

    Agree with the rest of you. Not much development from last year except for the new paint job (which does look nice!)

  20. I may be alone in this but I prefer the R29 livery. This is great but I loved last year’s esp when ING left

    1. No, you’re not Steph! See below!

      1. Hivermind..
        It’s nice if you like yellow, I don’t. My favourite Renault livery was the R28.

    2. I think you may just be ;)

      But the car still looks unfinished, escpecially when its compared to the Sauber from earlier

  21. You know what… as much as I like this livery, I still prefer the 2009 Renault. I think ING should go crawling back to Renault, prodigal son style!!

    1. Ned you know your liveries so I’m happy we’re in agreement! Makes me feel a bit more sane for liking last year’s so much :)

  22. What are those 3 needle-shaped things on the front wing endplate?

    Was it there on last year’s car as well? Or some new innovation?

    1. They are in most cars.. it’s just they usually are below the front wing endplates

  23. Why is there no live streaming of the launch? Surely Renault are not that cash stripped. They could have made use of this perfect Sunday morning to attract world wide viewers & some sponsorship. In the process expelling the negative vibes surrounding the team.

    Bad marketing strategy by Renault.

  24. Another team with a low key launch and a car lacking in sponsorship.

    Regarding the livery, while I like the yellow and black I think the red on the side of the wings doesn’t work and I am not to keen on the yellow and black stripes on the engine cover it reminds me of the barcode livery which often replaced tobacco sponsors names at some Grand Prix and still does at with Marlboro at Ferrari, also the side pods defiantly need a sponsor or something there, preferably in black writing.

  25. That’s one of the most ugly car I have seen in recent years.

    1. Penelope Pitstop
      31st January 2010, 23:19

      THANK YOU! I think it’s hideous.

  26. brrrr…
    Sauber empty, now Renault empty… and all those rumours about Campos, USF1 and also Virgin (with the unexpected changes in management etc)…

    I really really hope they all make it through the season, love to see 26 cars battling.

    *dreaming about 26 cars qualifying within 1 second*

  27. Anyone else reminded of this?:

    http://www.f1wolf.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/1997-jordan.jpg

    (without the snake on the nose, of course!)

    1. The difference is, the Jordan looked nice… :P

  28. Renault R29B anyone? Surely they have a load of parts to stick on it in the next few tests to bring on a par in terms of complexity with the rest of the teams. Far too basic and blockish.

  29. Looks like a ‘nana on wheels, particularly with the shape of the nose.

  30. According to GPUpdate, it IS the R29!! Explains the blandness and simplicity of it…. http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/formula-1-news/227094/petrov-joins-kubica-as-renault-reveals-r30-livery/

    1. Thought so. Its starting to look nice already. Just show how horrible last years livery was.

      Just hope they ditch that stupid fat nose, they’ll gain a 2 sec advantage by doing so :P

    2. FFS why don’t they show us the R30 then? Have they not painted it yet?

      1. LOL I don’t see what advantage other teams could gain overnight by seeing the R30 this afternoon, must be extra-special…

  31. You can even still see ING on the back of the rear wing in the rear diagonal image, so possibly still a R29 shape

    1. good spot! i can see that too.

    2. Hah! You’re not wrong Ed. Eagle eyes you got there.

  32. Quote “With the striking new livery revealed on one of last year’s R29 models, Renault’s R30 remains concealed in the team garage and will be out on track in the hands of Kubica on Monday morning.”

    1. If it really was the R29 and not the R30 then why they hide the DDD?

  33. looks like a teapot to me!

  34. Looks reasonable in my opinion, only the zebra-striping/barcode on the tailfin and the HUGE renault logo on the engine cover are clearly ugly. Don’t get me wrong, there are many ways they could have made it look better, but its not horribe. It does look like the least raddicaly altered car of the whole bunch (so far).

    The zebra-striping would have looked better if it had been horizontal instead of vertical.

  35. no really this wins “could have been the best livery, bar the red bits”

    1. Wins could have been the best livery, bar the red bits, attached to the McLaren MP4-25

  36. It’s really apparent this is indeed one of last year’s models, as under the current regulations, the necessity of putting in a much larger fuel tank would have caused the car to be longer at the rear.

    There’s little surprise to preserve, though, if they’re starting testing tomorrow…

  37. GPupdate.net says that: “With the striking new livery revealed on one of last year’s R29 models, Renault’s R30 remains concealed in the team garage and will be out on track in the hands of Kubica on Monday morning.” So that’s a relief, it might not be a suck-fest after all.

    http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/formula-1-news/227094/petrov-joins-kubica-as-renault-reveals-r30-livery/

  38. If you look VERY carefully, on the CGI shot of the new car from behind, you can still see ING on the rear side of the rear wing :p

    1. i already mentioned that above ;)

      1. Ah so you have! My apologies, lol, there’s so many posts and a lack of forum, its easy to overlook things!

  39. Do they have 2 fuel providers ? elf and total….
    The elf branding is shown on the engine cover …

    If yes then which fuel would they use..
    can anyone please clarify ?

    1. Total owns Elf.

    2. Elf own Total, or Total on Elf. They just promoting both brands.

      1. Wikipedia says:

        [blockquote]In 1991 the company name became simply Total. After Total’s takeover of Petrofina in 1999, it became known as Total Fina. Afterwards it also acquired Elf Aquitaine. First named TotalFinaElf after the merger in 2000, it was later renamed back to Total in May 2003.[/blockquote]

        So Total own both Fina and Elf. Elf are the traditional petrol, oil and lubricant suppliers of Renault. Even the Renaults of the 80’s had Elf branding on the side.

  40. They have indeed modified the front wing… It looks like a very innovative solution of generating enough downforce. Have a look at the top view

    1. It has rakes much like the McLaren last year at Monaco – other than that I think it looks pretty conservative.

  41. that “R30” looks extremely short for 2010 standars :P

  42. Black and Yellow is nice and also there is team’s history connection but i think the two colours could have been done much better design wise. Yellow colour especially on sidepods is looking very plain. Maybe if they could find more sponsors so their names would fill the place, it would look better.

    1. Give them a chance, Petrov was only announced an hour ago ;)

  43. I like the livery, but it looks slow… And just like the r29.

  44. Noway the new fuel tanks are in that body!
    Why bother to launch today??

  45. Hmmm ……… not as good looking as Photoshop pictures I have seen on internet. The car could have used some silver and more flowing lines of the cour areas. Still on time to change before the first race.

    I think that black wheels are old news. Black wheels plus bright body colour is not a good match.

  46. Reminds me of Jordon of the late 90s and early 2000.

    Nice to see some colors. bored of so much white and grey stuff there.

  47. Great livery on the whole, shame about the Total rted having to be there, but these days you can never have everything.

    1. It is the R30. Is actually longer than the R29. And the front suspension is totally different.

  48. Great livery, would change that red colour for a black but still looks nice. A hornet! Hope will be quick.
    And i really dont know what Jezson is talkin about Jordan. Jordan lookes better!? Not really, maybe if you like pickups :P R30 livery is much better imho.
    Waiting to see R30 car now in this livery.

  49. Glad I’m not the only one who thought it looks like a Jordan!

    Livery could have been better, but it’s far superior to the ING of the last two years.

    Why are so many teams releasing the liveries and not the cars too? Okay, Mercedes will have theirs soon and just released the livery to try and overshadow other news that day, but you’d think Renault would actually have a car to build by now.

  50. I must say I’m mad about livery of this car!!

  51. it IS R29. Wait for R30 till tomorrow.

  52. That’s the best looking car on the grid… and I don’t know why I think that

  53. Cheers for finally again a Belgian (test driver) driver in formula 1.

  54. Very interesting, GPUpdate have now changed that story, removing the reference to the R29?! http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/formula-1-news/227094/petrov-joins-kubica-as-renault-reveals-r30/

  55. The car has a nice retro look. Could have been a little more true to the ’79 car in terms of color scheme. I think it looks very similar to the Jordan, Buzzin Hornet paint job!

  56. http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs235.snc3/22264_1228696561565_1353607583_30646251_482132_n.jpg

    Photos match 100 percent.

    http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs148.snc3/17567_1237296846284_1045116486_30591570_6374042_n.jpg

    And this is a mistake in GFX on the so called “studio photos” which are in fact photoshoped photos of last year’s car.

    This should give you a clue ;)

    1. Crikey, the photoshop student placement needs to be fired!

  57. I think its fine other than the “Total” red which ruins it. Hopefully Kubica can get some results out of this car!

  58. now that right there is a good looking F1 car!!

  59. That Total red Totally ruins it! haha get it total, totally…. Yah im so lame….

  60. The wings look really basic compared to the other teams. I hope these are only on the car for today.

  61. Its a repainted R29, and everybody in the press just swallowed it. What a load of rubbish.

  62. Why they cover up the diffuser one day before testing is beyond me

  63. Very nice paint job. Today we’ve seen two very colourful liveries, great to see a break in the corporate tedium…

  64. I think I may have owned an open wheel car that looked like this in one of the Gran Turismo games!

  65. And… What’s this?

    http://img199.image shack.us/img199/556/r30h.jpg

  66. wait there hideing the diffuser at the back? why ?

  67. i dont like the red parts of it. i edited it and put my own twist on it but i dont know how to post it up.

  68. Prisoner Monkeys
    31st January 2010, 21:09

    I like it. It’s not earth-shattering like the MP4-25, but neither is it simply apeing the competition, like the F10. I don’t like the vertical lines on the shark fin, though. Maybe it needs a good Sberbank or Gazprom logo in there …

  69. It’s noticeable today from the Sauber and Renault launches that F1’s era of austerity is here. There is such a dearth of sponsors! I’m torn in how I feel about this – on the one hand I prefer the look of F1 cars light on sponsors, it just looks cleaner and more “pure”, and if the next few years means F1 teams can be run effectively on little more than TV money then we’ll get more of this. Fantastic. However, the pragmatic side of me says that this ain’t healthy. Some of these teams will surely not survive for very long if they can’t get sponsors – and I’m not just talking the new teams…

    1. To clarify, by “this ain’t healthy” I really meant “this ain’t realistic” – I just can’t see F1 teams surviving on TV money and dribs and drabs of sponsors (as Renault and Sauber seem to be doing at the mo) – even if the cost cutting measures are effective. But I do hope I’m wrong!

      1. You’re right. Look at Super Aguri. They couldn’t get their sponsorship money, and they folded. No reason why that couldn’t happen to Renault or anyone else.

  70. in paint i edited the red parts of it out, took the ING off the back wing, and modified the stripes on the fin. i wish i could get it posted somehow it looks great. i think the cleanest cars thus far are mercedes and ferrari. the renault is nice, but the red def needs to go. the sauber is hideous. mclaren isnt far behind the sauber. one has to wonder about f1 sponsorship among some teams like a couple of people mentioned. i mean the cars look cool n all, but makes you wonder if teams will be able to survive.

  71. The livery is classic, and much better than the ING mish-mash… but the car shape itself is still so fat and ugly looking.

  72. wow now I’ve to say thats the R29 -_-
    At least, thats what this Q&A says

    http://www.renaultf1.com/James-Allison-The-R30-is-a.html?lang=en

  73. Confirmed that was a R30, wow im really dissapointed :(

    http://twitter.com/rf1paddockpass

  74. This guy puts up a convincing argument that it IS the R30: http://www.vivaf1.com/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=1664

    The question is, why have Renault decided to evolve the R29 instead of starting with a blank piece of paper?

  75. Penelope Pitstop
    31st January 2010, 23:37

    F1 is supposed to have the world’s most talented designers creating blindingly fast cars. It looks like Renault hired a bunch of Boy Scouts to carve one out of a block of pine!

  76. I don’t think that it looks any less sophisticated than the Ferrari for example.

    1. Penelope Pitstop
      1st February 2010, 3:42

      It’s the color. Yellow is an awful color for a car, especially a race car. Just as wearing yellow can make almost anyone look fat, I think it makes a car look bulky and slow. The Ferrari looks better and faster because red is a sexy, racy color (though I personally think the white on the front and rear wings of the new Ferrari spoil the look).

  77. The new livery looks good,I hope their luck changes as the season progress.

  78. Horrible car. Petrov is a good news!

  79. Looks to me like a very conservetive design.

  80. The first photos from the test are kicking about, the front wing on the renault is COMPLETELY different. looks like this could have been the r29 http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/formula-1-news/227126/2010-testing-begins-in-valencia/

  81. There is a distinct lack of sponsors. But other than that when I look at the car I just get zebra’s and africa swirling around my mind…

  82. Great livery, still not sure about the “shark fin” on any of the F1 cars though…

  83. NEW R30 is out on track with “W” rear wing and quadruple front wing…..!!

  84. R30 is out on track with “W” rear wing and quadruple front wing…..!!

  85. Looking back on this one now, I would like to say that this is seriously one of the nicest liveries to ever exist.

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