With Mercedes power through the 1990s and 2000s, McLaren was one of the most dominant forces in Formula 1. But when Mercedes as a team set itself up to take control in the then-new turbo era, McLaren figured it would only ever be second-rate, so it embarked on a wandering journey to make things work with Honda () and now Renault (). Now we are seeing a new report that McLaren could go back to Mercedes. The sound you hear is of McLaren fans tearing their hair out.

The news comes to us from /, citing unnamed sources, that Mercedes could power McLarens from 2021 on:

Motorsport.com understands that its favoured route has been to secure a customer supply with Mercedes. It has been suggested that talks are now at an advanced stage and a deal could be close.

However, both Mercedes and McLaren declined to comment on the matter when approached by Motorsport.com.

The report notes that the Renault deal runs out in 2020 and, well, fuck it, I guess.

Great. Cool. So the engine failures, dramas, fights, losses, disgraces of the last half-decade would have been for nothing. NOTHING.