Britain's BBC reports that McLaren will switch to Honda turbo engines for the 2015 season, when it says the Japanese company will return to Formula 1 for the first time since 2008.

Honda pulled out of F1 after years of poor results with its own team, which subsequently won the championship as Brawn in 2009 and is now Mercedes.

A McLaren spokesman declined comment on the report, telling the British network: "We never discuss media rumors about potential partners." If it happens, the McLaren-Honda partnership would mark a renewal of one of F1's most successful associations between a road car manufacturer and a race team. McLaren-Hondas won four consecutive World Championships from 1988-'91 with Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost.

Honda dropped out of F1 after shutting down its works team, which was subsequently reborn as Brawn GP and won the World Championship with Jenson Button. Since then, Brawn has been recast as Mercedes' works team – perhaps, encouraging McLaren to look elsewhere for its own unique relationship with an engine supplier.