Two engine types "a can of worms" for F1 - Lotus

The FIA and Bernie Ecclestone are pushing for an independent engine supplier to come on board from 2017 in order to offer teams a cheaper alternative as they sport continues to struggle to reduce costs.

One of the biggest issues the plan is facing, however, is to make sure there is similar performance from both types of engines.

Although FIA president Jean Todt is confident that right balance can be achieved, Chester believes it would be an extremely difficult task given how different the two engines would be.

"It's quite a can of worms," said Chester.

"A two-tier championship would be very difficult to operate.

"There would be so many different challenges for equalisation and this would be exceedingly difficult with engines of different characteristics."

2016 car progress

Lotus, which is still waiting for a takeover deal from Renault to be finalised, is working on the design of its new car still unsure about which engine it will run, as it would stick with Mercedes if the Renault deal does not go through.

Chester, however, said the lack of development to this year's car have given the team extra time to make progress on next year's design.

"We're well progressed through the design process and most of the layout has been done," he said. "We've learnt a lot over the past two seasons and all this knowledge is being put into next year's car.

"There hasn't been the greatest amount of development through the year on the E23, so we've been able to dedicate quite a bit of additional manpower to our 2016 challenger.

"Manufacture of some of the parts is already underway and we're looking at a lot of the final detailing currently."