Perhaps the "fake news" comes from articles like this, which quote the Mclaren boss man himself.
https://www.thecheckeredflag.co.uk/2...t-power-brown/
“In 2017 – because next season nobody knows – if we had the Renault power plant in there we would have been there or thereabouts with Red Bull. Some races ahead of them, some races behind them, but we would have been around there.”