According to reports in the British press, even if McLaren were to part way with Honda at the end of the season, they will not be looking at using either Mercedes or Ferrari engines in 2018 for one simple reason, they would become too big of a threat to the top teams.
It is common knowledge how the once hailed partnership between Honda and McLaren three years is now a nightmare for mechanics and drivers alike with Fernando Alonso's only highlight of the year being when he topped FP1 in the British Grand Prix last weekend, not because he was faster than everyone else, but because he put on a set of slick tyres in the dying minute of the session when everyone else had set their times on intermediates.
Alonso has also scored the teams one and only point for the season, and it is obvious up and down pitlane that the Spaniard is far from happy with the way things are.
But now, as teams look to 2018, McLaren CEO Zak Brown has made the comment that Mercedes and Ferrari wont supply them out of fear they may be beaten by a customer team instead they prefer to see the once great team struggling at the rear of the grid..
"We're a big team that knows how to win races and championships so I think most of the teams, while it's a shame to see where we are, they like us where we are," Brown told Sky Sports. "They don't want to get us too close to them which is understandable."
Mercedes supplies the same power unit that is in their car to several customer teams, including Williams who also know how to win races and championships, so that comment seems a little odd in reference to the German engine giant, however, Ferrari only supplies year old power units, which wouldn't put McLaren on par with them anyway.
