In a bid to improve the show and the cars, F1 bosses set a mandate to increase the speed of machinery by five seconds per lap, increase the size of the tires and widen the cars. But over the course of the eight months since that request, discussions have led to what Symonds describes as a "halfway house" from the original proposal that was put in place.

"What we are left with is a car which is now two metres wide and it's got bigger tires – 300mm front, 400mm rear," Symonds said at the Autosport International motorsports show. "I think it has quite an attractive look to it but the bodywork width which was going to be 1800mm has come back down to 1400mm, which is what it is now.

"It was going to have a very big diffuser, but it has been made smaller and is basically the same as what we have now. In fact, the underbody of the car is very similar.

"We still have a bit more freedom around the front bargeboard area but it's a bit of a halfway house from the original proposal."

Symonds hinted he would F1 prefer to wait until 2018 for its rule changes to allow for more thought but says the current spec is likely to be polished in the coming weeks to meet the March 1 deadline.

"The regulations want five seconds a lap quicker and there is some dispute as to whether it is the right thing anyway," he said. "I feel there may be some merit in thinking again and waiting until 2018. But I suspect I won't have much support from my fellow teams.

"I'm sure people will argue there will just be another year of debate without reaching a conclusion. There are some people who just want to get on and do things which is fair enough but I like to do things right rather than just do them. There is one technical meeting at the end of January and another one in February.

"I think to be honest, what will happen is we will polish the details with a view to having a set of 2017 regulations by March 1. If we don't determine things by March 1, then changes need unanimous agreement and that is not something which comes easily in F1."