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[scotty]

Has a pretty good ring to it eh? Well, rumours kicking off that we might get it once again in the near future.

McLaren are reportedly considering joining forces with Honda when F1 begins its new era of V6 turbo engines in 2014.

At present McLaren are powered by Mercedes for free, however, that deal is set to expire at the end of 2012.

The contract, though, does state that Mercedes can continue supply the Woking team until at least 2015 but they will have to pay around eight million Euros (6.8 million pounds) for the engines.

And with Mercedes now having their own works F1 team in Mercedes GP, McLaren are reportedly already looking around for a new engine partner.

One name that has been raised is Honda with Auto Moto und Sport claiming that sources at Woking have put the Japanese carmaker's name down as a possible candidate.

The German publication added that a senior Honda manager in Suzuki also stated that the company is ready to make a return to Formula One, although management have yet to give the go-ahead.

The duo have collaborated in the past, enjoying a period of success between 1988 and 192, which saw McLaren win four Drivers' titles with Honda power.

Honda's most recent foray into Formula One ended in 2008 when they sold their F1 team to Brawn GP, which subsequently became Mercedes GP.

[racechick]

Hmmm! Interesting. So looks like McLaren are not going for their own engine then.

[GRHinPorts]

So soon we could have Williams Renault versus McLaren Honda?

Does Dietrich Mateschitz want to sell out to Benetton and we can really party on like its 1991?

[myownalias]

It'd be nice to have McLaren Honda back but I wonder about the wisdom of such a decision should it happen, how much time, money and energy will Honda put into developing a top engine; their last engine wasn't the best out there, somewhat down on power on the best engines, e.g. Mercedes and Ferrari! But saying that it is a completely level playing field with the new engine regs!

[scotty]

It'd be nice to have McLaren Honda back but I wonder about the wisdom of such a decision should it happen, how much time, money and energy will Honda put into developing a top engine; their last engine wasn't the best out there, somewhat down on power on the best engines, e.g. Mercedes and Ferrari! But saying that it is a completely level playing field with the new engine regs!

Some teams got screwed by the engine freeze...

[myownalias]

It'd be nice to have McLaren Honda back but I wonder about the wisdom of such a decision should it happen, how much time, money and energy will Honda put into developing a top engine; their last engine wasn't the best out there, somewhat down on power on the best engines, e.g. Mercedes and Ferrari! But saying that it is a completely level playing field with the new engine regs!

Some teams got screwed by the engine freeze...

I realise that and Honda were one of the teams that got screwed by the engine freeze; I also realise that some engine makers made changes after the freeze due to some loophole in the rules (which I cant remember at this time). I presume we'll see another freeze after 2014, I wonder if Honda can make a great engine first time? back in the day when Honda were successful, continual engine development was allowed and engines only had to last a race distance not 2 - 3 like they do now, personally I'd like to see this happen again, pushing the envelope, I'm bored of seeing engines never blow up; I thought it added another level of excitement seeing engines going bang at least a couple of times per race!

[andrew]

It'd be nice to have McLaren Honda back but I wonder about the wisdom of such a decision should it happen, how much time, money and energy will Honda put into developing a top engine; their last engine wasn't the best out there, somewhat down on power on the best engines, e.g. Mercedes and Ferrari! But saying that it is a completely level playing field with the new engine regs!

Some teams got screwed by the engine freeze...

Having said that the 2009 Honda was shaping up pretty well by all accounts before Honda pulled the plug and the team became Brawn.

The difference this time is that Honda would be the engine supplier only and not a constructor so their costs will be passed onto McLaren.

[myownalias]

It'd be nice to have McLaren Honda back but I wonder about the wisdom of such a decision should it happen, how much time, money and energy will Honda put into developing a top engine; their last engine wasn't the best out there, somewhat down on power on the best engines, e.g. Mercedes and Ferrari! But saying that it is a completely level playing field with the new engine regs!

Some teams got screwed by the engine freeze...

Having said that the 2009 Honda was shaping up pretty well by all accounts before Honda pulled the plug and the team became Brawn.

The difference this time is that Honda would be the engine supplier only and not a constructor so their costs will be passed onto McLaren.

You also have to remember that the Brawn wasn't powered by a Honda power unit, it had a Mercedes lump in the back, the car may never have performed as well with a Honda V8!

[scotty]

Agreed on all counts. In '09 Button said the Honda engine was probably some 60hp down on the Mercedes! Power alone doesn't tell the whole story (by a long shot) though.

I did also find it strange that McLaren may not want to make their own engines, but perhaps part of that is the cost. I heard that a few years ago Ferrari and the other big spenders were spending around $200m a season on engine development - around half their overall budget. Crazy!

[andrew]

It'd be nice to have McLaren Honda back but I wonder about the wisdom of such a decision should it happen, how much time, money and energy will Honda put into developing a top engine; their last engine wasn't the best out there, somewhat down on power on the best engines, e.g. Mercedes and Ferrari! But saying that it is a completely level playing field with the new engine regs!

Some teams got screwed by the engine freeze...

Having said that the 2009 Honda was shaping up pretty well by all accounts before Honda pulled the plug and the team became Brawn.

The difference this time is that Honda would be the engine supplier only and not a constructor so their costs will be passed onto McLaren.

You also have to remember that the Brawn wasn't powered by a Honda power unit, it had a Mercedes lump in the back, the car may never have performed as well with a Honda V8!

I think it was Honda originally but maybe I'm mistaken. I remember Button saying that things were looking promising pre-season then things went wrong with Honda pulling out then it was Brawn to the rescue.

[LewEngBridewell]

Hmmm, it'll be interesting to see how this one develops. I was looking forward to the development of rumours &/or talks that McLaren were going to work on creating their own engine.

If a Honda engine is used, the Japanese company will put all focus into that engine now they don't own a team any more. So maybe the slide down the order of best engines in the field can be reversed again.

The Mercedes engine supply was always going to be called into question when Merc returned as a fully-fledged manufacturer team, so a good replacement needs to be found soonish. Of course, as we all know, the McLaren-Honda partnership worked wonders in the past. Maybe it can do so again!

[bud]

I guess the logic is they'd have been building similar engines for IRL for some time by then.

I was looking forward to the development of rumours &/or talks that McLaren were going to work on creating their own engine

As was I, but perhaps with engine reg changes coming upand not knowing the life span of the regs they are looking for a more stable time to do this.

[andrew]

If the new engine format turns out to be a dud then this could be a shrewd move by McLaren if it happens and they hold off on developing their own engine. Best to wait until their is some stability in the reg's and then spend.

[Hammer278]

I prefer the ring of McLaren Merc....and the history of the 'Honda' team does not make it good news if McLaren are going to start using their engines soon.

[bud]

I prefer the ring of Vodafone McLaren...