Although Honda has previously remained committed to the concept – believing the advantages outweigh the downsides – the fact that there will be no limitations on what can changed for next year has prompted a deeper analysis in to the situation.

It is understood that, with the faster cars arriving for 2017, there could now be a bigger advantage in adopting a Mercedes-style approach of fitting the turbo and compressor at either side of the engine.

Honda’s F1 chief Yusuke Hasegawa says that with F1’s recent engine agreement that has removed the token limitations has left it in a different situation to how it was 12 months ago.

“Of course for next season we can change anything,” he told Motorsport.com. “We still haven’t decided the exact specification and layout, but it is better to have a more wide open area of design.”

When asked if this could end up with being an all-new engine design, he said: “Yes. Of course. It is possible.”

The problem for some teams is that, with Pirelli suspecting some are able to have a lower running pressure than a starting pressure, it has to raise the starting pressure higher than is ideal to take this drop into account.

For those teams that are not so well-equipped to manage the pressure, it hands them at instant disadvantage because the tyres are operating well outside their ideal operating window.

A 'running' pressure limit would alleviate such a problem, as all teams would then be faced with a more level playing field when cars are actually running.

But introducing and enforcing a minimum 'running' pressure is not so straightforward, because there is no standard way of monitoring pressures right now – and especially no way of doing it live. Teams are using a variety of sensors to measure pressures – with no strict calibration.

Furthermore, a lot of the electronics used for the sensors are being operated in temperatures well beyond what they are designed for – which leaves them exposed to failures.

It was interesting to note that in Spain last weekend Renault appeared to have suffered such a failure when the pressure sensor on Palmer's left rear tyre that failed in practice continued to register a 19.6Psi reading even after it had deflated.

One idea that has surfaced is for there to be a tender opened for F1 to appoint a control tyre pressure sensor which all teams would then use.

For now, it is a long-term project and will only go ahead if the FIA concludes that teams are acting in a way that is against the spirit of the rules.

For Monaco, teams have been asked to log their tyre pressure readings through the FIA's Standard Data Recorder – which will provide a decent database for the governing to try to understand what is happening with cars out on track and pick out if anything nefarious is going on.

Ferrari knows it cannot wait for the rules to change to be sure that it is not losing out to any rivals, so has to play catch-up in being better able to use the pressures to its advantage.

That was why this week's test at Barcelona was so crucial for helping it to better evaluate the impact of pressures on the performance of its tyres throughout qualifying simulations.

Sebastian Vettel's test-topping time during one of those runs – which was quicker than he had managed on Saturday afternoon when his pace faded – suggested some answers had been found.