McLaren has said that it is considering building its own engine for 2021 when the new Formula 1 power unit regulations are released, although this will only happen if costs are reduced.
While the present seems more important for McLaren during its ongoing struggle with Honda and its potential switch to Renault power, the Woking-based team has said that in the longer term, new opportunities could open up.
According to Zak Brown, McLaren's exectutive director, F1's current engine landscape could be set for a sizeable change in the future when the current V6 Hybrid Turbo era comes to an end.
"We're interested to see what the new engine formula is in 2021 – and whether we consider doing our own engine, or whether other people would come in under new rules," he said at last weekend's Italian Grand Prix.
"So right now we've got to focus on the next three years and, as soon as we get that figured out, then yeah, of course we've got to look.
"I think the landscape in Formula 1 is going to change in a very positive way from '21 onwards, with budget caps, revenue redistribution, and new engine rules," he added. "So it's a little hard to take any decisions on '21 with so many things that will change."
Despite expressing his excitement at the upcoming changes, Brown said that McLaren would have to know what the new engine rules would entail in advance before it would go down the route of designing its own power unit.
"For us to do our own engine, that's not something we've done before – so that would require a good lead time and some good capital expenditure," he said.
"We'd consider doing it. We just need to have an understanding of the platform, what are the rules, and what is it going to cost?" he asked. "We certainly wouldn't be in a position to spend the hundreds of millions that it takes now to develop engines, so they're going to have to change the engine formula for it to be something that economically would be viable for us."
Brown went on to say that the best directon Formula 1 could take would be to attract an independent engine supplier which would guarantee a competitive power unit.
"We'd be very much in favour of there being an independent, competitive engine, not just an engine that makes up the numbers.
"The manufacturers are great, I fully embrace them. But it would be healthy for the sport, like it's been in the past, to have an independent engine that teams can use should they choose, and it be a competitive engine. That's key," he added.
"The last time around Cosworth was in, and at the end they weren't competitive. So it doesn't work to just have an independent engine if it's not something that you can win races with."
