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Originally Posted by GTRMagic
So... Honda has said they have been talking to other teams about engine supply, Article Here suggests they have been talking to Sauber..
Would Honda *really* split from McLaren... and would Sauber *really* be better off with a Honda engine than a year old Ferrari unit... or would Sauber *really* be able to contribute to Honda's engine development when they seem to struggle to just participate.. 
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They are looking to supply in addition to McLaren. Not a split. Generally it is felt that Ron wanted exclusive access. That's great if it's the top engine, but not if you need development. With Ron gone, maybe McLaren has seen the light that acting as the only development team is not to their benefit. There has been plenty written talking about just this.
Would another mid-field or even backmarker team benefit from running a factory Honda in 2018? Given it's likely they would be running the same spec as McLaren (they need mileage on the newest components), the answer is "Yes". It's highly likely that most if not all of the reliability issues will be resolved by the start of 2018. Especially in a no token environment. Performance... time will tell.
How often are teams winning with customer Mercedes or Ferrari engines these days? Especially a spec that is a year old? It gives those teams a chance to potentially move forward in relation to their nearby competitors. It's also likely that whoever becomes the second team might get a favorable deal financially.
Richard