McLaren may be on the verge of signing an engine deal with Renault but it says it could decide to build its own F1 engine under new 2021 regulations.

Speaking to Motorsport at the Italian Grand Prix, McLaren executive director Zak Brown said he was hopeful the rules changes early next decade will make the sport more affordable and fairer.

“We’re interested to see what the new engine formula is in 2021 – and whether we consider doing our own engine, or whether other people would come in under new rules.

“So right now we’ve got to focus on the next three years and, as soon as we get that figured out, then yeah, of course we’ve got to look.

“I think the landscape in Formula 1 is going to change in a very positive way from ’21 onwards, with budget caps, revenue redistribution, and new engine rules. So it’s a little hard to take any decisions on ’21 with so many things that will change,” he said.

Brown believes the British company would need to know the costs involved prior to committing to building its own engines. After all, it’s never done so before and is a much smaller company than Mercedes, Ferrari, Renault and Honda are.

Either way, Brown did say that he thinks the best thing for the sport would be for a competitive and independent engine supplier to enter the fold.

“We’d be very much in favour of there being an independent, competitive engine, not just an engine that makes up the numbers. The manufacturers are great, I fully embrace them. But it would be healthy for the sport, like it’s been in the past, to have an independent engine that teams can use should they choose, and it be a competitive engine. That’s key,” he said.

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