If they are return to the sport it is unlikely that a V10 will be seen on the grid before the end of the decade.

Today's meeting, which was not regulatory but merely a discussion, was attended by F1, the FIA, current manufacturers and those on the cusp of entering the sport.

While the engine regulations for 2026 are set in stone, moving forward there have been calls for a return to V10s, possibly as early as 2028, but although no decisions have been taken this looks unlikely to happen before the end of the decade.

Representing Audi, which enters the sport next year was CEO Gernot Doellner, while Mercedes chairman Ola Kaellenius also attended as did General Motors president Mark Reuss, Audi, like GM, and Ford, which will partner with Red Bull, all attracted to F1 by the increasing move towards electrification.

It's understood that both sides of the argument could be seen, though cost remains one of the central issues.

"As usual all the teams will obviously want something slightly different that suits their own criteria," Christian Horner told Sky following the meeting. "So I think it's really up to the FIA and ultimately Liberty as the commercial rights holder of the sport to decide.

"This isn't just about in three to four years' time, this is about what do the next 10-15 years look like," he added.

"There is a governance," he explained in terms of a move back to V10s in the short-term. "When this set of regulations came in, the manufacturers signed up to a document that binds the governance. So you have to have what they call a supermajority for any significant change. So that would be out of the six, you'd need four votes out of the six.

"'31, at the end of the Concorde possibly," he continued, "but before that would need to follow a governance. There is a governance, so it can't just be, you know, 'we're going to introduce this next'."

From next season Red Bull will be supplying its own engines, having invested a small fortune in Red Bull Power Trains, which will partner with Ford, and while it remains to be seen how competitive the power unit will be, there are understandable fears that, as in 2014, one manufacturer will do a better job than the rest. With this in mind, as was the case with Renault following the last regulation overhaul, manufacturers are calling for the ability to make changes in order to be competitive.

"Inevitably, when you get a big regulation change, there is performance divergence and that is almost certain to happen next year," he said. "One of the topics on the agenda to talk about this morning was how quickly can there be convergence.

"We have a budget cap so perhaps the engines don't need homologating," he continued. "Perhaps you're allowed to upgrade your engines under that budget cap, that everybody has at the same level to encourage convergence as quickly as possible. Because I think we all want to have close-quarter racing, not a repeat of what we had in 2014."

Referring to the newcomers, which, of course, includes Red Bull, he said: "All of those names probably agree on the convergence and having that ability, particularly for the newcomers, to be able to catch up.

"The romanticist in me is a screaming V10 could be really attractive for F1," he admitted, "but it's got to be done responsibly. With electrification as well, is it a V10 or V8? That was really the discussion this morning, what the future potentially looks like."

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