Renault sends V10 era off in style.
The world might have heard Fernando Alonso as he sang over the pit-to-car radio after Sunday's victory in Shanghai, but the real musical highlight of the weekend came hours after the chequered flag had fallen.
The world might have heard Fernando Alonso as he sang over the pit-to-car radio after Sunday's victory in Shanghai, but the real musical highlight of the weekend came hours after the chequered flag had fallen.
As the cars returned to the garage, an old ritual was performed. Like an initiation ceremony, the lights in the garage were turned off and the team massed around Alonso's car. The engine ticked over, fired and, for one last time, the championship-winning V10 reverberated around the Renault garage as engine mechanic Christophe Niot played with the 'joystick'. As the engine sang up to 18,500rpm, it became clear that the symphony wasn't taking place just for the Renault' teams benefit, as mechanics from Williams, Red Bull, McLaren, BAR and others crowded in and around the garage to get a closer look - and listen.
"We wanted to observe our own small tradition, to listen to the engine for one last time," a poignant head of engine operations Denis Chevrier explained, "A static car can never transmit the emotion that goes into our work, so to see it running in the garage at racing speeds shows people that the engine isn't just cold technology - it lives, it breathes, and it is born out of our passion.
"To see our friends and rivals join with us for the moment was perfect. It was a communion of our shared passion. Some teams have had good seasons, others not, but we are all there for the same thing, and we all share the same enthusiasm for going racing. There is a long winter ahead for everybody, but you have to know when to make the most of the moment. We did that, and gave the engine a fitting tribute."
Fittingly the V10 era closed with a Renault victory, and title triumph. The French manufacturer introduced the engine configuration to F1 in 1989, developed it to championship-winning competitiveness between 1992-97, and then returned to do it again. Some 85 race wins, seven constructors' titles and six drivers' world championship were all powered by the men from Viry-Ch?tillon.
