2010 F1 Season Review Part 5- Renault Rebuilds After Scandal | Thebigtip

The 2010 Formula One season was one of the most exciting to date, with a heady mixture of new teams, new regs and a four-way title battle to keep even the least enthusiastic petrol-head glued to their telly screen. In my extensive season review, I'll be taking you through each of the 12 teams' performances, who was hot and who most certainly was not and I'll be giving my raw and unsolicited opinion on whether each team deserved their final finishing place. Part Five follows Renault, and their on- and off-track tribulations.  

Drivers: Robert Kubica / Vitaly Petrov

Team principal: Eric Boullier

Car spec: R30

Engine: Renault

If any team on the 2010 F1 grid was expecting a rocky start to the season, it was Renault. With their metaphoric heart in pieces after the denouement of the Crashgate saga and the departure of their sweetheart Fernando Alonso, building bridges was first on the agenda for the outfit with the striking new yellow livery.

When Crashgate first came to light mid-way through 2009, its credibility did not seem feasible. How could any respectable, right-thinking person ask an employee to risk his life simulating a racing accident for the sake of helping his team in the championship? Not only this, but the fact that Nelson Piquet Jr agreed to crash his R28 into the wall at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix beggared all belief. It was certainly a moment of madness that the Enstone-based squad was only too happy to forget. With the ousting of Flavio Briatore, Pat Symonds and Piquet, and the installation of Eric Boullier as new team boss, and the announcement of investment firm Genii Capital as a major stakeholder, the only way for Renault was up.

Two new signings made their presences felt for 2010 - Polish race winner Robert Kubica replacing the Ferrari-bound Fernando Alonso, and Vitaly Petrov, F1's first Russian, completing the all-fresh line-up. Kubica shot to fame over four seasons with BMW Sauber, defying death in a horror smash at Montreal in 2007, landing the team on pole for the first time in Bahrain 2008, and ironically powering to victory at the same Montreal circuit a year on from the crash. What would he achieve at a refurbished Renault, with automatic number one status against the unproven Petrov?

Petrov's racing history is pretty straightforward, the 25-year-old having followed 2009 GP2 Series winner Nico Hulkenberg straight into an F1 drive. The Russian had been contesting the F1 feeder series since 2006, and this time around he'd finished the season in second. It was enough to turn heads aplenty, as Sauber and Campos (later rebranded Hispania Racing) also vied for his affections. Sensibly, given how these other two teams were to perform, Petrov opted for Renault and signed a one-year deal with the French giants with the option of staying on for two more seasons providing he was good enough.

Peaks and troughs is perhaps the best way to describe Renault's 2010 efforts, with Kubica settling into his role with ease while Petrov struggled immensely at times to keep the car on the black stuff. Results didn't pour in straight away, and they were no match for the likes of the Red Bulls and the McLarens, whom a few seasons ago they had royally thrashed. Kubica's prowess behind the wheel of his new team delivered him second place in Melbourne, third in Monaco, and the same result at Spa. He is a dogged racer and has been earmarked from the start as a future champion who just needs his big break with the right squad. He was unlucky not to finish second in Japan before a loose wheel put paid to his efforts but it was proof enough to the eagerly-watching world of his ubiquitous presence and his knack of picking up results where stronger drivers hit the wall.

Petrov, on the other hand, is still an untamed talent. It's clearly there, plain for all to see, given his fifth-placed finish at the Hungaroring and a dogged sixth in Abu Dhabi to hold off championship challenger Fernando Alonso. But like all talents, his needs harnessing properly to allow him to become a world-beater like his counterparts in the field. In 2010 there were too many smashed-up cars, and with five times fewer points than Kubica, the youngster from Vyborg was hanging onto his drive by the skin of his teeth to the end of the year. Alongside Kubica, he was never going to sparkle, often is the blend of youth and experience in the crazy F1 world. But given another season with reliable machinery, there is nothing stopping Petrov getting in among the front-runners.

Renault finished fifth in the constructors', which isn't their worst end to a season ever. It's time for confusion in 2011 with Lotus taking over part of the naming rights and a squabble over which of the two teams on the grid with that name (the other being Team Lotus, just called 'Lotus' in 2010) is the real McCoy. Does anyone care? Red Bull and Toro Rosso don't seem to fall out over who's the real rouge-coloured bovine, so is there really that much in a name?

Kubica finished: 8th

Petrov finished: 13th

Bev's verdict: Both Kubica and Petrov did a decent job dragging round a largely uncompetitive R30. Fifth was the realistic optimum the recovering team could hope to achieve in 2010. A new season beckons, and the same order will be retained among the drivers Kubica and Petrov. Give the Russian a few years and he'll be as competitive as Kubica.