Grand Prix Rejects

Folks and folkettes,

What better way to buy into Renault's Toro Rosso trauma than by looking back to the start of their current stint in F1? It's almost like we planned this...

Esteemed member East Londoner has created an excellent dissection of Benetton's 2001, and you should read it here: https://gprejects.com/centrale/2001-a-benetton-odyssey

Enjoy!

I read this one before this forum post was even up. Hand me my hipster glasses and my 117 IBU IPA.

Benetton's predicament in 2001 was similar to McLaren's, this year and 2015 - I thought that a big team might well go through an entire season, end up with a big zero on the scoresheet, and be beaten by a much smaller and barely-financed team - Minardi in 2001, Sauber this year, and though that wasn't quite so likely in 2015, who knows, if Manor had been able to start their recalcitrant year-old cars in Australia, that might just have been the giant-killing performance of the decade, temporary though it would have been.

Oddly enough, Jenson Button has been involved in two of those three debacles, and let's not mention the Honda works team of 2007-08 either...

I have memories of Button doing a couple of demolition jobs on Trulli's Jordan in the Autumn that season.

I remember reading somewhere that the reason Renault was still using the Benetton name in 2001 was because they didn't want to risk getting a bad rep from their new engine in case it turned out to be a total failure.

Edit: I don't feel like I typed this out right the first time so plz ignore it.

The Rewrite:
I remember reading somewhere that Renault was practically using the 2001 season as one big test session for their new V10 engine and so they used the Benetton chassis designation to help cushion the blow and save reputation in case of mass retirements as they could put most of the blame on the chassis rather than the engine as the chassis is designated under the Benetton name and not Renault's.

The Chicane wrote:I remember reading somewhere that the reason Renault was still using the Benetton name in 2001 was because they didn't want to risk getting a bad rep from their new engine in case it turned out to be a total failure.

I suppose they did remember the experience of 1977, where it took two years for that engine to come good, with a steadily-improved chassis that started out as little more than a test hack.

Jean-Pierre Jabouille got his rewards in the end...

Excellent read. Thanks for sharing this!
I was a very interested spectator at the crash test for the Benetton at the Cranfield Impact Centre in January of 2001.

dinizintheoven wrote:

The Chicane wrote:I remember reading somewhere that the reason Renault was still using the Benetton name in 2001 was because they didn't want to risk getting a bad rep from their new engine in case it turned out to be a total failure.

I suppose they did remember the experience of 1977, where it took two years for that engine to come good, with a steadily-improved chassis that started out as little more than a test hack.

Jean-Pierre Jabouille got his rewards in the end...

Was that part of the reason why the engine was badged as a "Renault Gordini" unit in the 1970s then?

You know, there has been a steady stream of good articles in recent months - it's good to see that the site is gradually filling back up with a range of different articles, though I do wonder if perhaps we might need to find a way to index things a bit more clearly in the future as more contributions come in.

Faustus wrote:Excellent read. Thanks for sharing this!
I was a very interested spectator at the crash test for the Benetton at the Cranfield Impact Centre in January of 2001.

I think that I have probably mentioned this before, but it would be great if you could write an article recounting some of your experiences of the sport. Or, since I appreciate that, even though some time has passed, some elements may still be a bit sensitive to share, have you considered perhaps writing about some of the technical developments on the grid at that time?

It was a nice read