Toro Rosso will be making the switch back to Renault engines for the 2017 season, although they are unlikely to feature the name of the French supplier, as the team seeks a sponsor to rebrand the engines. This is what the Red Bull team already does.
Toro Rosso, the junior Formula One team to Red Bull, is reportedly talking with potential sponsors that would be interested in putting their name on the Renault engines given to Toro Rosso. Having run the Ferrari engine for seven seasons, Toro Rosso opted to ditch the Italian supplier for Renault engines at the start of the V6 turbocharged era. However, the results were not as positive as the team would have hoped, as the season was filled with reliability and performance issues.
Frustrated with Renault, Toro Rosso and Red Bull both sought out a different supplier. Toro Rosso was unable to find a supplier that would give them a 2016-spec engine, so they were forced to purchase 2015-spec engines from Ferrari.
Meanwhile, Red Bull had similar luck in their search, but did not want to go with the 2015 engine. Therefore the team decided to stay with Renault, a company which they had publicly bashed multiple times throughout the 2015 season. Renault agreed to continue to supply Red Bull with Renault engines, but both parties decided that it was in their best interest not to use the Renault badge. Red Bull signed a contract with Swiss watch manufacturer, TAG Heuer, to use their badge for their engines.
Now Toro Rosso would like to do the same, reportedly talking with their sponsors to see if any company would be interested. It’s not known at the moment which company they are talking with, nor when or if a contract will be completed.
