Although McLaren CEO Zak Brown has made it clear that the team is considering its future and a possible switch of engine supplier, Boullier says that Honda could yet show enough signs of improvement to justify a continuation of the relationship.

"I hope so," said the Frenchman when asked if the team will be with Honda in 2018. "Obviously we have a long-term contract, and we have forged very strong relationships at every level in both organisations.

"It's very true that there is a little bit of heat maybe, somewhere in the rumours in the paddock, because obviously we would like to be performing better. We would like to be able to give our drivers a car which is capable of fighting for the front rows.

"I think we are maybe starting to lack patience a little bit, but I think we have to believe in the project, and we have to give it 100 percent, what we can achieve.

"We've had a lot of meetings with [Yusuke] Hasegawa-san and other people from Honda, to try to sort out this situation, to make sure all targets and objectives can be matched on time."

Boullier, who suggested that Honda has actually gone backwards rather than progressed, stressed that the other elements for success are in place.

"Clearly they are putting a lot of effort and money into the sport," he said. "We are frustrated because it's the third year now, and we have the impression we went backwards. And this is not how we understand racing.

"We have to go forward, and I think we are all expecting this year to be closer to the podium, or at least not far, and all the efforts when you build a winning team you make sure all the ingredients are working together, and converge to the right place at the same time.

"We have the driver line-up, we have a chassis which is not too bad, but we are waiting a little bit on our partner on the power unit, and this is why there is frustration.

"I realistically believe there is a long-term story for McLaren-Honda."