Honda hope V10 advantage will be erased

With the current specification V10 engines currently having an 80bhp advantage over new V8 power units, there have been growing worries that not enough has been done to discourage teams from wanting to run the older configuration engines.

There are also fears that Scuderia Toro Rosso, the only team currently planning to run V10 power-units next year, will try and exploit the situation as much as possible in a bid to improve their competitiveness.

However, Otmar Szafnauer, vice president of Honda Racing Development, has said he believes that worries about how the situation will pan out on the track next year are a bit premature.

"The FIA has reserved the right to change and reset the maximum crankshaft rotational speed of the V10 at any time and they've said the V10 would never have an advantage over the V8," he told Honda Racing's website.

"However, as it stands today with the initial rev limit and air restrictor, there's no question that the V10 is superior to the V8 in terms of performance.

"The FIA, though, does reserve the right to make changes without notice and, as it has been advocating V8 for both safety and cost reasons, I am confident the current imbalance will be sorted out before the start of next season."