Name: Renault

With their double World Champion Fernando Alonso back on the payroll, Renault will be hoping to put last year's disappointments behind them and return to race-winning form in 2008.

Much of the infrastructure of Renault was laid by the Toleman team, which Italian clothing company Benetton took over in 1985.

The move immediately sparked some life back into the organisation, Benetton making an impact with a breakthrough victory in the following year's Mexican Grand Prix with Austrian driver Gerhard Berger.

They soon cemented their position as an F1 contender, always finishing in the top five, including a third place in 1988.

Benetton had to wait until 1989 to get their second GP win which arrived in that year's Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka - Italian driver Alessandro Nannini profiting from the infamous clash between warring McLaren team-mates Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna.

The signing of Michael Schumacher towards the end of the 1991 season proved a masterstroke and the team gradually moved towards becoming a true championship outfit.

In 1994 the German took the drivers' title although Benetton missed out on the constructors' championship which remained with the then dominant Williams set-up.

However, the following year - and having switched from Ford to Renault power - Benetton finally secured the double as they racked up 11 wins from 17 races.

The loss of Michael Schumacher to Ferrari for 1996 season and the withdrawal of Renault in 1997 signalled a downturn in Benetton's fortunes and for several years they fulfilled the role of midfield runners.

The purchase of the team by Renault in early 2000 gave them some much-needed stability, though the full effect was not to be felt until the French manufacturer took total control in 2002.

Within weeks of purchasing the team, Renault had re-recruited Flavio Briatore as team boss - the former Benetton executive having first been installed in 1988 - and they have continued to justify a reputation for hiring top F1 names ever since.

Due to an under-powered engine, 2001 was a poor season for the team, although matters improved the following year when the Renault name re-appeared for the first time since 1985 and their revolutionary wide V-angle engine finally produced some revs - though not nearly enough to match BMW, Ferrari or Mercedes.

Although the car was immensely driveable because of its low centre of gravity, it was also unreliable.

Jarno Trulli and Giancarlo Fisichella swapped teams in 2002, with the latter getting the worst of the deal by going to Jordan just as they took a downturn in performance.

But Mike Gascoyne's technical team managed to improve the car throughout the season and, with a lightning-fast launch control system, the team consistently picked up points.

Having replaced Jenson Button for 2003 - thus enabling Briatore to have two of his personally-managed drivers in the team - former test driver Fernando Alonso proved to be 2003's great surprise and pressed Trulli all the way.

The Spaniard also clinched the new Renault team's first win in Hungary and firmly established himself alongside the likes of Kimi Raikkonen and Juan Pablo Montoya as a contender to the dominant Schumacher.

Yet the roles were largely reversed in the first half of the 2004 season, with Trulli enjoying a rich vein of form. It culminated in the Italian securing his first grand prix victory at Monaco in May.

However, with Trulli refusing to extend a management deal with Briatore, his place in the team was already under threat.

Relations between the two parties disintegrated and so did Jarno's performances - the Italian even claiming his car had been sabotaged.

The team said the only problem was in his head. A split was inevitable, and with three races remaining he was replaced by Jacques Villeneuve.

Alonso had rediscovered his 2003 form by this stage and the Renault team were striving, ultimately in vain, to take second place in the constructors' championship from BAR.

But 2005 saw the team emerge as a dominant force in the sport, with Alonso ending Schumacher's five-year reign as world champion and Renault also taking the constructors' title away from Ferrari, who had held it ever since 1999.

Reliability was the key for Alonso, who claimed seven wins, eight podium finishes and the ultimate prize, the drivers' championship title at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Together with team-mate Fisichella, who won just one race and was dogged with reliability problems, he also clinched the constructors' championship for Renault as they beat McLaren by nine points.

2006 was another successful season for Alonso and Renault, who claimed back-to-back titles after a tough fight with Ferrari that went down the wire.

However, there was also some controversy during the campaign.

After a great start to the season that yield six victories for Alonso and one for Fisichella in the first nine races, Ferrari's performance eventually caught up.

Renault were also dealt a further blow by the FIA who declared their mass damper suspension technology to be illegal.

Robbed of an intrinsic part of their R26 car's design, the team saw Ferrari take an even bigger slice off their lead.

A failing wheel nut ruined Alonso's chances in Hungary, where the team suffered a double DNF, and a rare engine failure for the champion in the Italian Grand Prix at Monza handed more points to Schumacher.

But Renault bounced back in the final three events of the season, where two second places and a victory in Japan handed Alonso his second world title, while Fisichella's efforts also helped them secure the constructors' championship.

However, with Alonso off to join McLaren-Mercedes, the team struggled during 2007 with an R27 car whose aerodynamic performance was hindered by a switch from Michelin to Bridgestone tyres.

Whether Alonso's presence might have boosted the team's performance will never be known; however, with Fisichella and rookie driver Heikki Kovalainen driving the R27, Renault could not repeat the results of the previous two seasons.

After a tentative start to his F1 career it was Kovalainen who eventually started to bring home the points for Renault. He even clinched the team's only podium finish of the season, a second place in Japan.

But, even with Kovalainen's improving performances, it was evident that Renault were missing something.

And deciding it may just be their two-time world champion Alonso, the team has re-signed him for the 2008 season, dropping Fisichella to make space.

The team also opted to replace Kovalainen - who heads to McLaren - with another rookie, Nelson Piquet Jr., who tested for Renault during last year's Championship.