Lewis Hamilton has called on his Mercedes team to end McLaren's nightmare relationship with Honda by supplying engines to the British constructor next year.
McLaren are in their third year of a long-term contract with Honda, but are the only team without a single point to their name this season following a dreadful start to the new campaign.
To make matters worse, double world champion Fernando Alonso and his team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne are both set to serve grid penalties in Azerbaijan following a raft of changes to their Honda engines.
Indeed it is not inconceivable that both McLaren cars will prop up the grid for Sunday's race at a street circuit where overtaking is virtually impossible and top speed is crucial given the main straight here is the longest on the calendar at almost 1.4 miles.
McLaren publicly upped the ante on Honda at the last round in Canada after Zak Brown, the team's executive director, described the Japanese manufacturer as "lost".
And the sense of pressure only heightened when Alonso, who was set to score his and McLaren's first point of the campaign, retired on the penultimate lap after his Honda engine expired.
Talks between McLaren and Honda over their future are ongoing, but it is understood that the Woking-based outfit, who have not won a race since Hamilton left the team in 2012, are keen to turn to Mercedes power next term.
"It would be great for McLaren and it will be fantastic if it happens," Hamilton, who won his maiden title in a Mercedes-powered McLaren back in 2008, said.
"McLaren belong at the front with the top teams. They have had a disaster of a time over the past few years. They are having a struggle right now, and it does not look like it will change any time soon.
"I hope they get our engine or either Ferrari's engine next year so they can be up there with the top teams. It will be great if McLaren, Mercedes and Ferrari are all battling."
Hamilton, 12 points adrift of championship leader Sebastian Vettel, has spoken of his desire for Alonso, his one-season team-mate at McLaren, to be back challenging at the sharp end of the grid.
And a move from Honda to Mercedes for McLaren could provide the 35-year-old Spaniard, who won the last of his two championships more than a decade ago, with the machinery to take the fight to both Hamilton and Vettel in 2018.
"That would be great for the sport," Hamilton said. "We are seeing a really good year this year, and I hope and pray that next year and the following seasons are going to be close like this.
"It will be great if Fernando is up there racing with us at the front. That is where he belongs."
Honda have brought a number of upgrades to Baku for the eighth round of the championship, but Alonso, who fears he could lose up to three seconds on the main straight, does not believe they will have much of an impact.
"If we start at the back it is going to be a difficult weekend," Alonso, who will determine his McLaren future during the sport's summer break in August, said.
"The deficit on the straight here is one of the highest on the calendar so we expect a tough weekend."
Source: PA
