If the topic comes up then they’re already considering it.
Apparently Toto said Mercedes want to supply at most two customer teams after 2030 and McLaren are seen to be the most obvious candidate to let go, given that they are the ones who steal the limelight of Mercedes power units, the good relationship with Williams and the prospect of Mercedes buying into Alpine. (At least one of the recent The Race podcasts claimed this.)
Based on current information, the engine suppliers with only one team in 2031 will be Audi, Honda, and Cadillac. 1st season engine suppliers are exempt of the rule that could force them to supply McLaren. It’s questionable if Honda will even stay that long, given their abysmal current performance (Lawrence could just pull the rug). That leaves Audi and while their engine turned out to be alright (largest turbo dampening start performance but other than that not too shabby), it’s still a question whether they’ll be leading performance.
If McLaren went to a motorsports engine specialist to contract them for a McLaren-badged engine, at least they could use that to further promote McLaren road cars.
Considering all their road cars are v8, and have been for a long time, seems like it would be a good marketing move as long as the f1 engine isn’t a total dumpster fire à la the Honda in the Aston
Edit: except for the Artura, which I haven’t even heard even though they’ve been selling it since 2022. That’s a v6. Besides that, all v8 until you get to the f1, which was a BMW v12
