Cape Town - McLaren's potential divorce with engine supplier Honda has led to speculation about a possible partnership with Ferrari.
Honda are in a precarious situation with McLaren after countless reliability and performance issues and the Woking-based team are seemingly weighing up all available options ahead of the 2018 season.
A return to Mercedes is the most likely outcome, but respected journalist Pino Allievi of Gazetta dello Sport believes McLaren have also approached Ferrari about supplying engines to them.
Allievi also reckons that such a partnership would help resolve Fernando Alonso's much-speculated future, but it is very difficult to believe that a relationship between two of the biggest giants in Formula 1 would suit either party.
McLaren boss Zak Brown, meanwhile, is retaining some hope that Honda's fortunes will improve after recently introducing their Spec-3 engine.