At the end of the 1970 Formula One season, Jack Brabham retired and sold his shares in the Brabham team to Ron Tauranac. Brabham's chief mechanic, Ron Dennis, and colleague Neil Trundle decided to establish their own team. They acquired Brabham BT36 cars on hire purchase from Tauranac and sought sponsorship. Through Dennis's girlfriend, whose father was connected to Tony Vlassopulos — a barrister and son of a Greek shipowner — they secured their first backer. Vlassopulos brought in Ken Grob, chairman of London insurance brokers Alexander Howden, whose son Ian became part of the team. The team's name combined the first three letters of Ron Dennis with a corruption of the last three letters of Trundle, producing Rondel.
For their debut season, Rondel attracted two-time Formula One World Champion Graham Hill, who was impressed by the team's professionalism and attention to detail. Tim Schenken also drove for the team. At their first race at Hockenheim, Hill won his heat and finished second overall. A week later at Thruxton's BARC 200, Hill secured Rondel's first outright victory in only the second round of the European Formula Two Championship. Because of his Formula One status, Hill carried an A grading that made him ineligible to score championship points. Schenken, however, scored throughout the season and finished fourth in the championship. A third car was run mid-season for Bob Wollek, who achieved a best finish of sixth.
French oil company Motul came on board as sponsor from 1972. Schenken retained his seat, though he too was now A-graded following two World Championship points finishes in Formula One. Carlos Reutemann joined from Automóvil Club Argentina, initially intended to contest the full F2 season alongside his Formula One commitments with Brabham. Henri Pescarolo, whose Williams F1 team also carried Motul backing, drove occasionally for Rondel and gave the team their first win of the season at Pergusa in Sicily in round eleven. Schenken added a second victory in the championship finale at Hockenheim. Reutemann finished fourth in the championship.
Rondel took a significant step forward in 1973 by commissioning designer Ray Jessop to build their own car rather than continuing as a customer team. The result was the Motul M1, named for the team's sponsor. As early as round two of the championship, the car proved competitive: Pescarolo won with Wollek second, giving Rondel their first one-two finish. The team moved to a new factory in Feltham, Middlesex partway through the season. Rondel's final victory came at the Norisring, where Schenken won ahead of teammates Tom Pryce and Pescarolo.
Despite their on-track success, the 1973 season ended in closure. The oil crisis of that year affected Motul's ability to continue funding, and the finances were insufficient to support the planned leap to a Ray Jessop-designed Formula One car. The bank called in a £5,000 overdraft over a workshop floor Dennis had installed. Dennis departed immediately; Trundle continued with the already-designed Jessop F1 car under new ownership from Vlassopulos and Grob, which became the Token.
Rondel's importance to motorsport history lies primarily in what came after. Ron Dennis formed Project 4 Racing, which merged with McLaren in 1980, putting Dennis in control of the Formula One team. Under Dennis, McLaren won seven Constructors' Championships and ten Drivers' Championships. Neil Trundle moved to the Token project before joining Tyrrell, then rejoined Dennis at Project 4 in 1977. He later became Ayrton Senna's chief mechanic at McLaren for the 1988 and 1989 championship seasons. Rondel Racing, for all its brevity, was the workshop where one of motorsport's most important partnerships was first forged.