The Enstone operation's history begins with Toleman Motorsport in 1981. The Benetton family purchased the team in 1985, renaming it Benetton Formula in 1986. Michael Schumacher won back-to-back Drivers' Championships with Benetton in 1994 and 1995. Renault acquired the team in 2000, renaming it Renault F1 Team in 2002. Under the Renault banner, Fernando Alonso won consecutive world titles in 2005 and 2006. At the end of 2009, Renault sold a majority stake to Genii Capital. Following a transitional 2011 season as Lotus Renault GP — during which Group Lotus became the team's naming partner — the constructor formally became Lotus F1 Team from the start of 2012.
Kimi Raikkonen returned to Formula One after two years in the World Rally Championship, signing a two-year deal with Lotus. Romain Grosjean, the reigning GP2 Series champion who had tested with Renault in 2009, was confirmed alongside him. Renault remained as engine supplier.
The team was immediately competitive. Raikkonen finished on the podium multiple times throughout the season. Grosjean's year was disrupted by first-lap incidents, most notably at the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa where he was issued a one-race ban following a collision with Lewis Hamilton that eliminated four cars. He was replaced at Monza by reserve driver Jerome d'Ambrosio.
Raikkonen delivered the team's first win under the Lotus name at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, also his first Formula One victory since returning to the sport. The team ended the season fourth in the Constructors' Championship, with Raikkonen third in the Drivers' standings. Lotus scored points in 19 of 20 races that year.
Raikkonen and Grosjean continued into 2013 with the E21, launched in January at Enstone. At the opening Australian Grand Prix, Raikkonen converted a seventh-place qualifying position into victory, the team's second win under the Lotus banner. Lotus briefly led both the Drivers' and Constructors' Championships.
The season proved less consistent than 2012. The Bahrain Grand Prix produced another Lotus one-two podium, mirroring the previous year's top-three result. In the second half of the season the team's pace faded relative to rivals. Raikkonen underwent back surgery after first-corner contact at Abu Dhabi, missing the final two races of the year. Heikki Kovalainen substituted for him. Lotus finished fourth in the Constructors' Championship, behind Red Bull, Mercedes, and Ferrari.
A proposed acquisition by the Quantum Motorsports consortium, which would have seen the group acquire a 35 percent stake from Genii Capital, was announced in summer 2013 but ultimately never completed.
Significant changes preceded 2014. Eric Boullier departed as team principal to join McLaren. Andrew Ruhan, a British property developer who had loaned money to the team, converted his loans into equity to take effective control. Matthew Carter was installed as chief executive. Lotus retained Grosjean and signed Pastor Maldonado, who brought PDVSA sponsorship from Venezuela. The team switched from Renault to Mercedes power units was announced for 2015, but 2014 was run on Renault units that proved less competitive than the new hybrid Mercedes package used by rivals. The team finished eighth in the Constructors' Championship, a significant step back from their previous positions.
Operating with Mercedes engines as promised, Lotus entered 2015 with Grosjean and Maldonado but financial difficulties mounted throughout the year. At the Hungarian Grand Prix, Pirelli refused to release the team's tyre allocation until shortly before the first session, citing unpaid bills. In Belgium, Grosjean finished third — the team's first podium since the 2013 United States Grand Prix — but both cars were temporarily seized post-race due to a legal dispute with former test driver Charles Pic over unpaid contracts. At the Japanese Grand Prix, Lotus were locked out of their hospitality unit over unpaid fees owed to organisers from the previous season.
On 30 September 2015, Renault signed a letter of intent to purchase a controlling stake in the team. The sale was confirmed on 21 December 2015. The Lotus F1 Team name was formally dropped on 3 February 2016, with Renault announcing the constructor would compete as Renault Sport Formula One Team.
The Lotus F1 Team era at Enstone is remembered for the quality of racing delivered on modest resources — particularly in 2012 and 2013 when the black-and-gold cars were regularly among the fastest on the circuit. Kimi Raikkonen's performances during those two seasons, including his victories at Abu Dhabi in 2012 and Australia in 2013, cemented the team's competitive reputation despite the surrounding ownership instability. The financial collapse of 2014–2015 reflected the broader difficulty of sustaining a midfield Formula One operation without factory backing, a pattern that ultimately brought the Renault works team back to Enstone for the first time since 2009.