Formula 1's Managing Director of Motorsport, Ross Brawn is continuing his push for radical change in the sport, believing the current costs are unsustainable for the smaller teams.
The former Ferrari and Mercedes man has become the loudest voice among the new F1 bosses as the political tensions begin to rise between the top teams and Liberty Media following a strong reaction to a first engine proposal for 2021.
Both aforementioned manufacturers have threatened to pull out over what they see as ideas which go against the DNA of F1 but Brawn insists efforts to simplify and cheapen are necessary.
"The powertrain really is very impressive but it is inordinately expensive," he told Forbes. "For the manufacturers who are running their own teams that's fine but if you're a customer team the costs are extortionate.
"The cost of an engine these days is about twice what it used to cost before these engines were introduced, that was never a factor that was considered when the regulations were introduced. [Instead] there was a feeling that we needed to get a more relevant engine."
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Reducing the price of power units is only one of the ways Liberty is looking to address F1's financial inequality with the most contentious being renewed efforts at introducing a cap on team expenditure with a figure of $150m reported.
"[We are] working with all the teams now to look at budget control for the future and I think that is the way forward as this creates a sustainable F1," Brawn claimed.
"It makes everyone more competitive because the difference between the guys at the front and the guys who are spending much less further down the grid is reduced enormously."
