Categories: Look backRace and classic pictures

Sting like a bumblebee...

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With all the talk that Lotus might be going back to Renault ownership for 2016, here's a look at the last roll-out for the team when it still had Renault branding back in 2010.

Robert Kubica had just been signed to take over from Fernando Alonso who had departed for Ferrari. His team mate for the season was Vitaly Petrov, who became Russia's first Formula One driver, while Eric Boullier had just taken over as the new team principal.

The following year Renault downsized its involvement in Formula One and limited its role to that of an engine supplier, selling its stake to Lotus which put a John Player Special-inspired livery on the car for the 2011 season. Which at least meant an end to the wince-inducing yellow-and-black bumblebee stylings you can see in this picture from the archives!

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.