The R29 was launched on 19 January 2009 at the Algarve circuit in Portugal, with initial testing conducted at the Portimao circuit. Renault was joined by Williams, McLaren, Toyota, and Toro Rosso during those early test sessions. Nelson Piquet Jr. was scheduled to drive the first two days, with Fernando Alonso taking over for the final two. Rob White led the design of the engine. Coming off a resurgent second half of the 2008 season, the team entered the year believing it could contest both the Drivers' and Constructors' titles.
The R29 quickly revealed itself to be slower than anticipated. While many 2009 cars that started the year uncompetitively — such as the McLaren MP4-24 — improved substantially through the season, the R29 showed no meaningful development gains and arguably grew less competitive as the year progressed.
Fernando Alonso was the sole source of the team's points, scoring all 26 himself. His team-mates rarely advanced beyond the first qualifying segment, with Piquet Jr. and Grosjean frequently consigned to the back of the midfield. The season's lone high point for the team was Alonso's third-place finish at the Singapore Grand Prix, which stood as Renault's only podium of the year.
The 2009 season was overshadowed by the revelation of the so-called Crashgate scandal, in which Nelson Piquet Jr. was alleged to have deliberately crashed his car at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix on team orders to manufacture a safety car that would benefit Alonso. The fallout had immediate commercial consequences.
ING Group, the Dutch banking conglomerate that had served as the team's primary title sponsor since 2007, terminated its contract with immediate effect following the scandal. ING had already been scheduled to end its sponsorship at the close of the 2009 season, but the Crashgate revelations accelerated the departure. From the Singapore Grand Prix onward, the ING branding on the car was replaced simply by the word "Renault." The ING logo remained visible on driver overalls and team personnel uniforms during the Singapore race itself; from Japan, the team introduced a revised uniform eliminating both the logo and its orange color accents.
French oil company Elf Aquitaine was replaced during the season as a team partner by its parent company Total, which added red accents to the car's livery. An Elf logo remained on the engine cover throughout the year.
The R29 is remembered as one of the weakest entries in Renault's modern Formula One history, produced during a year when the team's internal upheaval — culminating in Crashgate and the consequent dismissal of Pat Symonds and departure of key personnel — proved as damaging off the track as the car's performance was on it. The season marked the end of Renault's established pre-2009 competitive identity; the team would rebuild with a new driver pairing and revised commercial structure for 2010.