Formula 1 CEO Chase Carey has responded to claims by Ferrari chairman Sergio Marchionne that the sport's 2021 engine proposal would turn the sport into NASCAR, as it has an element of part standardisation to reduce costs and increase competition.
Marchionne said Ferrari could pull out if the plans go ahead unchanged, commenting: "I don't want to play NASCAR globally".
But Carey insists there are no plans to create a standard car and engine with the only difference being the driver, but says the sport needs closer competition and better racing.
"Actually I don't think we have a differing view to Ferrari," said Carey. "I'm not trying to be derogatory to NASCAR, but we don't plan to be NASCAR either.
"We don't want to standardise the cars. We don't want 20 identical cars going round the track, and the only difference is the driver.
"F1 is unique, and it marries up competitive sport to state-of-the-art technology. We want the teams to have the ability to do what they do to create cars that are unique to them – unique engines to them, unique bodies to them.
"But we want to make success dependent on how well you spend your resources within some constraints, versus how much you spend and then those that can develop the technologies, develop the capabilities that are better than others, will enable them to succeed."
Carey says an element of surprise in the sport is needed where the underdog has the ability to win on occasion, rather than the dominance of one or two teams that F1 is used to.
"We want teams to compete to win, but we want all the teams to have a chance," he added. "It's never going to be equal, there are going to be favourites that evolve, but we want the teams to feel that they all have a fighting chance.
"Sports are built on the unexpected, and we do want a sport that can have the unexpected. If somebody wins every race every week, at the end of the day, the sport's going to suffer.
"You need competition, you need the unknown, you need great finishes, you need great dramas. We've got to create that.
"That attracts more funds, and realistically that benefits all the teams in the sport.
"Our first priority is to make this sport much better for us, and the existing teams in it."
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