Mercedes technical boss Paddy Lowe confirms engines will be "significantly" louder this season.

Before the new formula was introduced, Bernie Ecclestone was concerned that the sound of the new, hybrid F1 would not go down well with fans.

Sure enough, from the moment the cars hit the track, fans around the world have expressed their dismay at the lack of "aural grunt".

Regulation changes for 2016 intended to make the 1.6 litre engines sound more exciting look to be working as Paddy Lowe confirms there is a "significant" difference.

"We'll see how much louder the changes prove, but some measurements have been made in the labs and they have seen a significant increase," said the Briton. "The reason for that is the wastegate was causing a sort of silencing of the main exhaust pipe, so by removing it from the main exhaust pipe we have less silencing going on of the main flow.

"In the last two years we have had a situation where the main exhaust goes through one tailpipe," he continued, "and we have a wastegate to spill out extra pressure from the exhaust. We now have to duct that air separately through an extra tailpipe, and this is intended to make more noise. It will work."

His comments come days after similar assurances from Pat Symonds at Williams.

"In the past, everyone has run wastegate pipes into the main tailpipe of the engine and what we have to do in 2016 is separate them," he told Reuters at the weekend. With the wastegate open, it will be 25 percent louder.

"We've seen some big increases since the beginning of 2014," he insisted, "the cars have got naturally louder and they will get naturally louder this year in addition to the changes we have made to the exhaust.

"We haven't heard them on the circuit yet, but I think we may hear a few of the old signature noises from the turbos, the whistles and the pops, but we will have to wait and see about that one," he concluded.