With Toro Rosso returning to Renault engines in 2017 and Red Bull extending their partnership with the French automaker as well, the two teams could go back to sharing valuable F1 technologies.

By switching back to Renault power, Toro Rosso will once again use the same engines as Red Bull, which in turn could mean sharing gearbox internals and cutting costs via shared R&D research.

“It always makes sense if you have two F1 teams, to have levels of overlap between those teams,” stated Toro Rosso technical chief James Key. “We moved away from Renault as there was uncertainty as to what they would be doing as it wasn’t clear if they would buy the Enstone team [Lotus]. And we knew there were some troubles that were affecting both teams a little bit – but a lot of those have gone away.”

Indeed most issues that plagued Renault last year have gone away, as the power unit is looking much improved right now compared to 2015. Red Bull have just about cemented their status as the 2nd most competitive team in F1 the past couple of races and the upgraded Renault engine had a lot to do with it, as did the team’s superior chassis.

“The intention was when we first went to Renault was to have the same engine [as Red Bull] because you have overlap of power unit related technology which can be shared. It gives you the ability to come up with a solution which suits both teams and you cut out as a result two R&D streams as you have one. We have had gearbox internals, but you can extend that to maybe items of the fuel system, hydraulic systems, perhaps exhaust design, some of the electronics,” Key explained.

According to Autosport, Red Bull are indeed considering increasing their cooperation with Toro Rosso in certain aspects – though scheduling and logistics will play a part seen as how the two teams are based in different countries.

Key concluded by saying that “we’ve had one year with Ferrari and we can go back with a lot more confidence that the operation is in much better shape than it was before. Not only have they got on top of some of their reliability issues but they are clearly finding real decent performance.”

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