McLaren racing director Eric Boullier wants Honda to recruit employees from Mercedes, Ferrari and Renault to help cut the deficit to the front.
Honda has struggled in its first season in F1, joining the grid one year after the introduction of the V6 turbo power units. Much of Mercedes' current domination comes from the fact it focused on the turbo project well before 2014, while Ferrari has made a big step forward this season after struggling last year.
Renault continues to struggle in 2015, showing how difficult it can be to recover from getting a concept wrong with chunks of the engine frozen year-on-year, limiting development every winter. Honda has struggled for reliability and performance all season, though there were signs of improvement in Hungary.
In an interview with F1i Boullier was asked whether Honda had been hurt by joining F1 after the new power units were introduced, to which he replied: "Yeah, definitely. Honda could have bought some experience from other engine manufacturers and maybe should actually.
"We would recommend it just because to make sure you go faster and you accelerate your development program because they have solutions ready to fix things, or maybe some understanding."
However, when the question was put to Honda chief Yasuhisa Arai at Silverstone, he replied: "I don't think so. We have enough resources already."