Bernie Ecclestone says Red Bull would be challenging Mercedes for victories if it had managed to secure an engine deal with the world champions this year.

Red Bull approached Mercedes over a supply of power units last year, but was rebuffed after the world champions decided it did not want to offer its prized asset to one of its main rivals. As a result Red Bull settled for re-badged Renault engines, which are more competitive this year but still down on power compared to the class-leading Mercedes and Ferrari power units.

Ecclestone argues Mercedes' dominance is one of the biggest issues facing the sport's popularity at the moment and claims it would not be so one-sided if Red Bull had got the engine supply deal it wanted.

"Actually it's funny because there was a team, there is a team that could have actually caught up [with Mercedes]... what's it called? Red Bull, yeah, and they wanted an engine the same as the other people.

"Do you know what I don't understand?" Ecclestone added. "When Michael [Schumacher] was winning a lot of races and world championships and Red Bull as well, it never seemed as if any of those teams were dominating Formula One. I think the problem we have now is that Mercedes are so good, they qualify first and second and finish first and second in the race. It didn't used to be like that with Michael."

Ecclestone is doubtful Mercedes grip on victory can be loosened over the coming years, claiming it will outspend its rivals if it needs to.

"I believe that we need to find a way to do something with this engine because as long as we've got this power unit, if, if somebody catches up to Mercedes, I think they will pay whatever it takes to make sure that people are still left behind, because that's what they want to do, they want to win.

"That's what they are there for, to win and then it's a case of we should be winning. When was Formula One good? It was in the days when you had all the Cosworth engines, more or less the same power."

The F1 CEO believes the current engine regulations are slowly destroying the sport and not succeeding in their objective of enticing new manufacturers to compete.

"Firstly this was Max [Mosley] that decided that we would have smaller engines and more manufacturers. I said maybe what we ought to do is ask the manufacturers if they will come in if we had smaller engines than have the smaller engines and hope that they come in, because they haven't come in.

"Because Honda would come in whatever the engine was, so that was a massive mistake and the minute it started to be produced it was bloody obvious it was going to be expensive. This is what upsets me, we talk about the fans, I don't know whether they supported this engine, I think they didn't, I think you guys come out clearly and says that nobody wanted this, we've got it and this is really, really, really the thing that is destroying Formula One, slowly."

Changes to the power unit regulations are set to be agreed at the end of this month to reduce the cost of engines, encourage performance convergence, put an obligation on manufacturers to supply others and further improve the noise.

The issue is a politically-charged topic, with the likes of Mercedes keen to protect their investment in the new technologies and the advantage they hold on track. FIA president Jean Todt said an agreement on engines would not be unanimous, but is confident he will get the majority vote needed in the F1 Commission to push changes through.

"I will be very strong to get an agreement and I hope we get an agreement," Todt said when asked if the threat of an alternative engine would be rekindled. "I am sure this agreement will not be unanimously agreed. Because if we are waiting for unanimous agreement on the agreement then there will not be any agreement."