Mercedes confident 2016 cars will be significantly louder

Formula One cars will be 'significantly' louder in 2016 according to Mercedes technical chief Paddy Lowe.

The advent of F1 racing's 1.6-litre engine rules led to a fall in noise levels, but for this season steps have been taken to make power units louder such as mandating two exhaust tailpipe exits rather than one - changes that Lowe is convinced will prove a success.

"We'll see how much louder [the changes prove], but some measurements have been made in the labs and they have seen a significant increase," Lowe said in a Mercedes video.

"The reason for that is the wastegate was causing a sort of silencing of the main exhaust pipe, so by removing it from the main exhaust pipe we have less silencing going on of the main flow.

"In the last two years we have had a situation where the main exhaust goes through one tailpipe, [and] we have a wastegate to spill out extra pressure from the exhaust. We now have to duct that air separately through an extra tailpipe, and this is intended to make more noise. It will work."

The changes will get their first public outing when teams roll out for the first pre-season test, which takes place in Barcelona, Spain on February 22-25.