McLaren boss Zak Brown believes that when it comes to McLaren's engine supplier issues, both Ferrari and Mercedes "like us where we are".
Brown's comments, delivered to Sky Sports, offer two pieces of information: the first is that the Woking-based outfit did indeed hold talks with Mercedes and Ferrari, something we pretty much already knew, and secondly, McLaren's options have narrowed down to either sticking with Honda or seeking a deal with Renault.
"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 News' Craig Slater.
"They don't want to get us too close to them which is understandable."
As McLaren regroups and assesses its situation on the engine front, Brown is once again optimistic about Honda's ability to deliver the goods, something its partner has failed to do in the last two seasons.
"We've spoken with Honda about a variety of different scenarios," Brown explained.
"We ultimately think that Honda can get the job done, they have in the past. We need to make sure the development comes at a faster pace.
"We're starting to work on our 2018 car now and you can only go so far before you need to know the architecture of what you're doing so I think around the summer time, which obviously isn't far away, we need to finalise what we're doing with Honda moving forward.
"We can't continue to be uncompetitive - that's not what McLaren race for. It's been three years, so we need to see some drastic power adjustments or some different ways to get there.
"We, like Fernando [Alonso], want to be winning races and being on the podium and in the current state we can't do that - so some things need to change."
If McLaren does indeed stick to its partnership with Honda, its chances of keeping Fernando Alonso on-board will likely take a serious hit. Unless a miracle is delivered between Hungary and the end of the summer...
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