Otmar Szafnauer, former Honda director and now Force India COO, believes McLaren could come to regret a potential decision to split with the Japanese manufacturer at the end of this year.
Speculation has cooled in recent weeks about whether the British team will indeed call time on their partnership with Honda after three very tough years after being considered a mere matter of when not if just after the Canadian race.
Though a return to Mercedes does still appear a possibility, Szafnauer, who was with Honda during McLaren's highly successful partnership in the last turbo era, thinks the hierarchy at Woking should think about the future and not focus on the past.
"I was saying to someone recently that maybe in two years time when Honda, who are very capable, get it all together, we will wish they [McLaren] had switched to Mercedes!" he was quoted by Fox Sports.
"You cannot be too quick to judge and make a kneejerk reaction, they (Honda) could be just on the cusp of getting it right."
Trying to explain why the most recent McLaren-Honda tie-up has been so problematic, Szafnauer suggested what he sees as the current weakness is also what could help Honda turn their fortunes around.
"What I found was that the guys who had worked in the third generation project [from the late 1990s] who had come from the second generation [1980s] had very good knowledge of F1 and what it takes," he explained.
"They were able to put the programme together in order to compete at the highest level.
"I remember when Takeo Kiuchi, who was Senna and Prost's race engineer came in, within two or three years we had the lightest and most powerful V10 engine.
"He knew what it took it and he did it. We ended up with 968bhp and 88kg, which was just a little bit lighter than the BMW and a little bit more powerful.
"What they are lacking this time around is that experience of what it takes."
Highlighting his point, Szafnauer took the example of the man currently in charge of the Honda F1 operation.
"[Yusuke] Hasegawa was there [in the 90's], but he was a controls engineer, and I am not sure they have the strength in depth of experienced F1 engineers working on the project.
"Back then they had loads of them and they knew what it took. If you don't have that at the beginning, it takes time to get that.
"But they are on their way of getting that experience of what it takes, and it would be a shame for them to part company with McLaren as opposed to sticking it out and making it good."
This weekend in Austria, Honda has introduced a Spec 3 power unit, aimed at solving many of their problems so far this season. After Practice 1, first signs are more positive as Stoffel Vandoorne claimed seventh fastest with Fernando Alonso not far behind in ninth.
