Lewis Hamilton has warned F1 bosses they can't stop his title procession by meddling with his engine.
The Briton has enjoyed a marvellous start to his title defence, opening up a 30-point lead in the drivers' championship after romping to three race wins in his bid for a record-equalling seventh crown.
But the sport's supremos are concerned over his and Mercedes' supremacy this season and want to prevent the use of high-power engine modes in qualifying.
The rule would force teams to use a single engine mode throughout a race weekend, effectively stopping them from using power boosts in the hope it would lead to a level playing field.
But Hamilton says the ambitious proposal, which was laid out by governing body the FIA to teams this week, won't work.
"It is obviously to slow us down but I don't think it will get the result they want," said Hamilton, who is preparing for this weekend's Spanish GP.
"They're always trying to slow us down but it doesn't change a huge amount for us.
"The guys at our team have just done such a good job with the engine. I don't think it's going to get the result that they want.
"But that's totally fine if they do it."
The change is still being discussed by the FIA and could be introduced in Belgium in a fortnight.
But Hamilton's Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas fears it would simply make racing less interesting.
"We are not panicking about it," said the Finn. "The first thing that came to my mind was that in races every team has different modes how much they want to risk (the engine).
"If there was the same engine mode for everyone there could be less overtaking because everyone is just running the same modes rather than playing with them and sometimes using more or less power."
