McLaren will once again be powered by Mercedes engines from 2021, it is being reported.
The British team has a storied history with the German manufacturer having won two Formula 1 titles together in 1998 and 1999 during a 19-year partnership which came to an end in 2014.
After that, the Woking-based outfit took a different route teaming up with Honda for their return to F1 in 2015, but after three disastrous years, the two parties would split.
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Now, Honda is forging a successful partnership with Red Bull while McLaren switched to Renault power and has also made progress as they are on course to finish fourth in this year's Constructors' Championship.
At the end of their previous partnership, then-CEO Ron Dennis argued McLaren's position as a customer team of Mercedes meant it would be impossible for them to win championships, thus the move to an independent supplier in Honda.
But paddock inside Joe Saward has suggested his successor Zak Brown is happy to accept that position for the sake of a stronger engine with the hope that a new engine maker will join the F1 grid in the coming years.
For Mercedes, while there is the additional cost of supplying a third team, which would also need approval by the FIA, it also comes with more political power in talks with F1 bosses on future regulations.
This also raises questions perhaps about Renault's future post-2020 given their struggle to make their works outfit a race or championship-winning team and complaints about the $175m budget cap is too high.
We'll have to wait and see...
