'You need to have a works team to win a championship'

McLaren boss Eric Boullier believes that, although success can be achieved by winning Grand Prix races as a customer of an engine manufacturer, championships can only be won by works teams who develop and evolve their own engines, with McLaren currently receiving power units from Renault.

McLaren were formerly a customer of Honda before opting to switch to Renault before the 2018 campaign, but the change has not catapulted them to championship status like what was expected.

Boullier reckons that only works teams can win the overall championship.

"I think Red Bull is showing that you can win races as a customer, but I think winning a championship is another level -- you need to have a works team status," he said

McLaren have actually improved on their position from last season with Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne enjoying a slightly better campaign, but the expectations following the power unit change to Renault have ultimately left the team disappointed with the current performance.

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"It's true that this time last year we had no points at all, so obviously we are now in the fight for fourth with Renault and once again, we would prefer to be comfortably fourth, which was one of the targets we had assigned to ourselves," Boullier continued.

"The car this year is obviously not working exactly like how we expect to be but we are still using this as an experimental experience.

"We want to learn from this car and learn as well working with Renault -- because it's a different partner from last year who we worked with for some years. We have something new to learn; some of the technical options we have not explored yet."

Boullier's comments come just a week after Red Bull opted to ditch Renault engines in favour of McLaren's former suppliers, Honda.