STRENGHTENED SYNERGIES WITH RED BULL
For the first time in its young history, Toro Rosso manufactured a carbon-only gearbox casing. The previous season, it had some aluminium in it (just like on the Williams, Renault, and Manor). For the gearbox itself, however, the Red Bull junior outfit uses internals supplied by Red Bull Technology and Xtrac. From that perspective, the late switch to a Ferrari engine forced engineers to adapt not only the gearbox internals, but also the cooling, electric installation, electronics, energy management, exhaust, etc.
On the final image, one can see the inside of the casing and spot the following elements: a cooler, the orifice for the exhaust, the torsion bars, hydraulics, the shaft, etc.
Also visible is the rear wing pillar, which goes through the exhaust tailpipe. Toro Rosso actually devised such design in 2015 on the STR10 before rival teams followed in their footsteps. It’s not the only area of the car where the small Italian outfit has blazed a new trail, as highlighted by the STR11’s rear wing endplates and its open slits. Several teams, including the dominant Mercedes squad, sampled similar solutions in 2016. This underlines the creativity of Toro Rosso’s design office with the talented James Key at the helm.
Returning to the Renault fold in 2017 means Toro Rosso will once again have the same engine supply as Red Bull, with strengthened synergies between Milton Keynes and Faenza, especially when it comes to the transmission. However, it will be several months before the technical exchanges between the UK and Italy really gather steam.
“There are several areas nowadays where it's acceptable to run the same part or for one team to design a bit and allow the other team to use it and so on, predominantly on power unit-related topics, but it also stretches to gearbox and suspension as well,” Key told Toro Rosso’s official website over the winter.
“That's all good. It means we can pool our resources a bit more and have better synergies in those areas and certainly, both teams are looking to see what opportunities there are. The problem with new regulations of course is you've got nothing to discuss because you've got to go through the whole design process. In 2017 therefore, there will not be that many opportunities for synergies.
“In the second year of these regs, once you've got bits that work within that set of regulations, then it opens up many more, so 2018 will be a better opportunity. Having said that, having the same engine helps. It draws together a huge amount of commonality in certain areas on the power train side.”
