Listen to Hamilton’s 2014 F1 racer

Next year, some regulations in Formula One will change, chief among which includes the decision to drop the high-revving V8, and introduce a slightly lower revving V6. A turbocharged V6.

As such, Mercedes has just revealed an audio recording of its new turbo 1.6-litre V6 engine - soon to be driven by Messrs Hamilton and Rosberg - set against the simulated backdrop of the legendary Monza GP circuit, which you can listen to below.

It was recorded using a development engine at Mercedes AMG's High Performance Powertrains (HPP) which as we showed you last night, is based in Brixworth, here in Britain. Mercedes tells us it is the most accurate impression to date of how the new 2014 engines will sound next year.

Formula One: Made in Britain

The capacity drops from 2.4-litres to 1.6, but also the rev limit is now just 15,000rpm (the current ones scream to around 18,000rpm), while the single turbo spins at speeds of up to 125,000rpm. Keen readers of the Internet will appreciate that this marks the return of turbocharged engines in F1 after many, many years; the last turbo era was in the 1980s.

So why now? Well, as mentioned, those regulations will change, setting engineers the challenge of completing 300km race distances on a 100kg fuel load. Mercedes tells us this requires a 30 per cent increase in energy efficiency. Along with the switch from free-breathing V8s to turbo'd 1.6 V6s then, is the introduction of more powerful energy recovery systems (ERS) - able to deploy ten times more energy that the current KERS setup.

The new ERS systems will recover energy from the exhaust turbine and the rear axle, and will be able to apply the recovered energy back to both.

The end result of all this, is the opportunity to transfer technology from Formula One to the real-world, in areas such as battery tech, turbocharging, energy recovery and combustion efficiency. Which is all fine, important business, but - and this is more important - does it sound good to you? 

The brains behind Mercedes' F1 engines