Recently-crowned world champion Lewis Hamilton believes the move to restrict drivers to just three engines for 2018 "sucks", adding Formula One should be centred on flat-out racing.
Drivers are currently permitted to use four power units before incurring penalties, but that number is set to be reduced to three next season in a bid to lower costs, while certain elements of the engine will be restricted to just two for the 21-race campaign. Hamilton put in an impressive recovery drive in Sunday's Brazilian Grand Prix, finishing finish fourth and just 5.4s behind race-winner Sebastian Vettel.
The Briton said he enjoyed being able to push as hard as he could in Brazil during his charge through the field -- having taken on a fresh engine after crashing out of Q1, which prompted him to start from the pit-lane -- but is concerned that having to make three power units last an entire season will prevent drivers from being able to race flat-out.
"Next year we're going to have three engines but I don't like the idea of going to three. That sucks," Hamilton said. "Sprinting is what we are missing in F1. We should be able to push more. This is the first time I've pushed an engine like that. It was nice, normally you're managing it.
"I always look after it more than I need to. I often turn the engine down and they keep telling me to turn it up and I'm like 'No, no, I prefer it down and I'll figure out a way to catch up in another way'. But I guess that's just your fear of pushing it a little bit too much, like the engine blowing up in Malaysia last year, so those kind of things make me look after it even more.
"I just have to implement the same thing I have done this year. I should generally be able to make those three engines last. I think the team has done great, and to be able to push the engine like it was today, it makes me think I don't like the idea of going to three engines."
F1 has faced a barrage of criticism for the amount of grid penalties that have been affecting the outcome of races since the V6 hybrid era began in 2014. The issue has been particularly prevalent this season, with a host of teams forced to take hefty grid drops at many races in 2017. McLaren-Honda's Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne have amassed a total of nearly 400 grid penalties between them in the 19 races so far this year.
"It was fun because I had that but I was coming from a different place," Hamilton added. "But if you look at the front guys they were managing and that is generally what we are doing at the front, so I don't think that's too exciting for people to watch. That's why people look at the most exciting races, particularly when it rains because you don't have those limitations.
"Races where Max [Verstappen] has been coming through from the back of some sort -- or a driver has been -- those have been the most exciting ones. So how do we provide that for the future? I'm not sure cutting down the engines is helping it in that direction."
Hamilton reckons the new engine rules, combined with an increase in weight of the cars -- with the introduction of the controversial Halo cockpit protection device in 2018 -- will have a negative impact on the quality of racing.
"The fact that these days we've got 100kg, the car is going to be a bus next year, it's going to be so heavy it's going to be like a bleeding NASCAR next year. So heavy. The braking distances get longer, the brakes are always on the limit, and I know it sounds negative but as a racer who wants a fast, nimble car that I can attack every single lap, unfortunately that's not what we generally have."