McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh has confirmed his marque’s commitment to being powered by Mercedes engines for at least the next three years.
Over the past few months, McLaren have been linked to a return to Honda, who supplied the Woking-based team with engines from 1988 to 1992.
During that time Ayrton Senna won his three titles and Alain Prost claimed one of his four, while the team were also constructors’ champions for four consecutive years.
Speculation intensified this week, with the suggestion that from 2015 McLaren would switch to Honda, who pulled out of the sport at the end of 2008 when they ran their own team due to the global credit crisis.
Despite that, Whitmarsh said: “What I can tell you is we have a contract with a long-standing partner, Mercedes-Benz, for 2013, 2014 and 2015.
“So we have a contract, they’re our partners and we’re going to try and win world championships and races with them.”
It means McLaren will have two years to assess Mercedes’ attempt at the engine regulation change that comes into force next year, when F1 switches from the current 2.4-litre V8s to 1.6-litre turbo-charged V6s.
Beyond 2015 remains open to conjecture, however, with Honda not just the only engine manufacturer being linked given the new power unit is more relevant to today’s road cars.
“There’s a lot of speculation and I’ve heard Porsche, Hyundai, Honda, all those sorts of names,” added Whitmarsh, speaking to Sky Sports F1.
“I hope for Formula One these manufacturers come back. We need them in the sport.
“At the moment we have Renault, Mercedes, Ferrari... we need more engine suppliers in the championship.
“We’ve a good and long-standing commitment to Mercedes-Benz, that’s what we’re focused on right now. In the longer term who knows what’s going to happen?
“But we’re delighted to be partnering Mercedes-Benz.
“They’ve done, certainly in the last few years, a fantastic job in Formula One. We’ve won a lot of races together and we’re going to try and win quite a few more in the next few years.”