McLaren sounds out Mercedes over engine deal

McLaren has sounded out Mercedes about a potential return to the power unit manufacturer following a difficult pre-season for Honda.

According to multiple reports, McLaren held informal talks with its former supplier in order to gauge the potential of it becoming a customer team again in future should the need arise. McLaren had a factory deal with Mercedes from 1995 until the German manufacturer entered as a full constructors in 2010, with McLaren continuing to use Mercedes engines until 2014.

The switch to Honda came as a result of McLaren believing it would be impossible to win a championship without factory backing, but the partnership has been a difficult one to date. Following constructors' championship finishes of ninth place in 2015 and sixth last year, this season was expected to see a major step forward. However, the new Honda proved unreliable and uncompetitive throughout pre-season testing.

While the partnership is a long-term one – with Honda bringing substantial sponsorship as well as supplying the power units for free – a McLaren source told RACER toward the end of pre-season testing that there is scope to break the contract if required and suggested the team would look at doing so if it felt there was no hope of significant progress in the near future.

The move to Honda power came under Ron Dennis' leadership, but the CEO has since lost control of McLaren, with the company now run by executive committee. The BBC reports McLaren's initial approach to Mercedes was "informal and brief" but adds "the Mercedes board and motorsport boss Toto Wolff are said to be open-minded about the possibility of supplying their former partner."

Following such a difficult start to the third year of its partnership with McLaren, Honda's head of F1 project Yusuke Hasegawa recently told RACER that performance was a concern but added: "The reliability issues I think we can solve before Melbourne. At least the problems we have had, we applied some countermeasures for those and it should be all right."