McLaren CEO Zak Brown has confirmed the team is assessing the possibility of moving away from Mercedes to be supplied by another engine manufacturer for 2026.
The FIA recently confirmed six manufacturers are looking to enter F1 when the new powertrain regulations are brought in, including Honda.
Honda is the only entity to register an interest that is not associated with a current constructor, but TheRace revealed it has begun exploratory talks with McLaren on a possible link-up.
Although Brown has admitted McLaren is content with the Mercedes partnership, the American has conceded that the team will consider alternative options on the power unit front for 2026.
“We’re very happy with Mercedes,” Brown began. “We have some time to decide what we want to do in 2026 and beyond, I think it’s exciting for Formula 1 to have this many manufacturers coming into the sport.
“I think it shows the growth and excitement for the sport. It’s certainly something Andrea and I are in the process of slowly reviewing; we’re not in a big rush and we are very happy with Mercedes, so we’ll see how things play out in the next year or so before we make a decision.”
McLaren rekindled their relationship with Honda in 2015 when the Japanese manufacturer returned to F1 for the first time since its works outfit entered administration over six years earlier.
There were high hopes the partnership would inspire similar success to the one the pairing established between 1988 and 1992, when Honda engines powered the Woking-based side to 44 wins in 80 races during that time.
However, it would transpire to be a disastrous three-year spell, yielding zero podiums as the team was thwarted by a continuous run of ruinous reliability problems, culminating in McLaren terminating the agreement early.
After three years with Renault, McLaren revived their partnership with Mercedes in 2021. Meanwhile, Honda continued their F1 venture more triumphantly with the Red Bull group, eventually leading to a Drivers’ championship win in 2021 and then a double title success only a year later.
Honda officially departed the sport again at the conclusion of the 2021 season, but the Japanese firm did agree to continue to maintain and supply engines for Red Bull up until 2025.
With their branding suddenly returning on the Austrian team’s car and clothing towards the end of last season, it offered a sign that the company was interested in already marking its return.
With Red Bull’s powertrains division teaming up with Ford to tackle the new engine regulations, Honda will now have to seek an alternative team to build a project with – and McLaren could be a possibility with other options appearing to be slim on the ground.
Former long-serving McLaren boss Ross Dennis previously argued that the days of winning as a customer team are over in F1.
The overriding advantage of teaming up with an engine manufacturer comes from the exclusive relationship that can be formed, enabling a smoother and more flexible engine integration.
Moving away from a customer deal to that sort of arrangement is a direction McLaren could be set to head in once again if a surprise reunion deal with Honda does materialise.
