Toro Rosso eyes engine naming deal

Toro Rosso is in talks about selling the naming rights of the team’s engine supplier for 2017.

When the FIA published the provisional 2017 entry list recently, the name of Toro Rosso’s engine was listed as ’TBC’ (to be confirmed).

That is despite the fact that the Faenza based team has done a deal with Renault for the supply of customer engines next year.

Toro Rosso’s owner, Red Bull, fell out badly with Renault at the end of 2015, leading to a customer engine deal last year with the French-made units re-badged as ’Tag Heuer’.

A similar deal for Toro Rosso is now in the works, boss Franz Tost admitted.

"We have the opportunity to find a title sponsor, as Red Bull did with Tag Heuer," he told La Gazzetta dello Sport. "We are in negotiations."

Tost also said the team’s other preparations for 2017 are on track.

"We have passed the crash test and will be doing a filming day before the tests begin," he said, referring to the 2017 car. "We are on schedule."