To celebrate its 40 years of success, passion and pride of appearing amongst the historic F1 makes, Renault has decided to revive this anecdote from the past by creating an actual “Yellow Teapot”. Renault’s décision to enter the very exclusive Formula 1 world was made in 1975 and was effective starting in 1977 with a car called the RS01. So it was at the 1977 Silverstone Grand Prix that Renault took up its position with the first Formule 1 turbo engine in history.
It was foreseeable – and has always been true when new or even revolutionary technologies are introduced – that technical difficulties and reliability problèms would crop up, and some things were abandoned. 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 was adopted by the membres of his team, then by other teams at the following Grand Prix events. The RS01 was thereafter nicknamed The Yellow Teapot.
In design terms, The Yellow Teapot is inspired from the past and present, of the RS01 and of the new RS17, going as far as using the official paint used on it. 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.
