Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff has rejected suggestions F1's current engine formula is a failure.
Apathy towards the V6 turbos and their complex energy recovery systems has been driven by a lack of noise compared to the V8s they replaced and the apparent advantage Mercedes gained over the rest of the field. Within the sport, the extra cost of the power units has increased the financial burden on several teams and contributed towards Marussia and Caterham going into administration at the end of last year.
Amid plans to tweak the current engines to produce 1000bhp, Wolff defended the existing formula, saying Ferrari's resurgence this year is proof it can provide an exciting product.
"I don't think it's a failure," he said. "We have clearly, like any other sport, our challenges. And you need to be able to reinvent yourself if you think that the formula or format is not good enough. I think that with Ferrari resurging there is a pretty tough fight out there for the championship, we have seen indications in the last races that viewing figures have been up."
Wolff said he was happy to let Bernie Ecclestone drive through plans to make the show more exciting, but said Mercedes would continue to have its input to ensure its interests are protected.
"Clearly you see differences between promoters and the show they are being able to put up. But again in my role it's not so much up to me to judge whether the show is good enough or not, because I'm not selling any tickets and I'm not trying to sign promoters or TV stations. So we need to follow Bernie's guidance on that, this is his job, what we can do is be part of these discussions and come up with our standpoint with some sensible guidance that we think is wrong and right.
"From my perspective it's what is important for Mercedes from the technology point of view, from the communications point of view, from how we see ourselves in that sport and how we see that sport itself and we try to bring that opinion on the table and then there is a governance in place and a decision is going to happen."