Renault warmed up French fans with a spectacular demonstration of F1 power down the Promenade des Anglais in Nice at the weekend.

Nico Hulkenberg and Alain Prost jumped into the 2012 V8-powered E20 and the 1983 RE40 to power down the iconic Nice seafront yesterday as a warm-up to the French Grand Prix, which takes place in a little over 100 days.

Despite torrential rain and heavy cloud cover, thousands of fans lined the route to get a glimpse of Renault's Hulkenberg and four-time world champion Prost negotiating one of the most famous roads in France.

"It was a fantastic event here today," said the German. "It's an amazing thing to be able to drive down Promenade des Anglais with a Formula 1 car.

"The sound was incredible. It's such a famous place and you don't get to do it every day! It was a shame the weather was so bad but I saw a lot of people with smiles on their faces – I think we put on a good show and hopefully gave people a taste of what's to come with the French GP."

"It was a great event here today in Nice, which is so close to Paul Ricard, the home of the French Grand Prix," added Prost. "It was an initiative from Christian Estrosi, mayor of Nice and President of the French Grand Prix, who has brought F1 back to the region.

"It was symbolic to have the RE40 driving with the 2012 E20 car, uniting old and modern F1 cars as the French GP makes its return after 10 years off the calendar.

"The only bad point has been the weather, but it's been a unique event with lots of people who I hope will follow us through to the Grand Prix in June."