The chassis was designed by Mike Gascoyne, Bob Bell, Tim Densham, and Dino Toso, with Pat Symonds as executive director of Engineering and Bernard Dudot overseeing engine design. The R24 returned Renault to a conventional engine layout after the previous season's experiment with an extreme 111-degree vee angle on the RS23. For 2004, Renault adopted a 72-degree vee angle, trading the experimental approach for greater reliability and a proven configuration.
A mid-season update designated the R24B debuted at the San Marino Grand Prix, bringing revised cylinder heads, an updated inlet system, and associated changes to the lower engine structure — improvements aimed at closing the performance deficit to Ferrari.
The R24 was quick enough to outpace both Williams and McLaren at various points during the season and matched the pace of Jenson Button and Takuma Sato's BAR Hondas, which proved to be Renault's closest competition for the secondary positions. However, Michael Schumacher's Ferrari was in another class, and Renault were fighting for the positions below.
Alonso and Trulli demonstrated the car's genuine potential at the Spanish Grand Prix, where they finished third and fourth respectively, giving Renault a strong double points finish and establishing them as real contenders for second in the Constructors' Championship.
Trulli's season reached its peak at Monaco, where he took victory — the car's single race win of the year. However, his relationship with team principal Flavio Briatore, who had previously managed Trulli, grew increasingly strained. Trulli was consistently off the pace in the second half of the season and made public claims about favouritism within the team toward Alonso, though the two drivers themselves maintained a cordial relationship.
The breaking point came at the French Grand Prix, Renault's home race, where Trulli was overtaken by Rubens Barrichello on the final lap, costing Renault a double podium. Following five successive races without points, Trulli was released from his contract early and moved to Toyota, driving for his new team in the final two rounds of 2004 while still formally a Renault employee.
To protect their position in the Constructors' Championship fight, Renault signed 1997 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve as Trulli's replacement for the final three races. Villeneuve, having spent most of the year away from Formula One, struggled to adapt quickly and failed to mount the challenge the team had hoped for. Renault ultimately finished third in the Constructors' Championship, behind BAR on 105 points, rather than securing the runner-up spot.
The R24's brief cameo on British television drew unexpected attention. The car was loaned to the Top Gear programme, where it was driven around the show's test track. Renault claimed it would complete the lap in under a minute, and it duly set a time of 59.0 seconds — the fastest any car had lapped the circuit at that time. The driver was revealed not to be the regular Stig character but Renault's own test driver Heikki Kovalainen, disguised in the Stig's white suit. The record stood for over two decades until the McMurtry Speirling bettered it by 3.1 seconds with a 55.9-second lap.
The R24 marked a consolidation point in Renault's development arc. The team had proven its competitiveness, achieved a race win at Monaco, and emerged from the Trulli-Briatore friction with its technical direction intact. The experience of navigating driver management challenges alongside championship ambitions hardened the team's resolve heading into 2005, when Alonso and Renault would take their first Drivers' and Constructors' Championship double.