Seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher believes the excitement has not left Formula One following accusations that the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix was nothing more than a procession.
With new regulations this year banning race refuelling and allowing just a single tyre change, there were very few moments of overtaking at the Sakhir circuit as Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa claimed a Ferrari one-two.
Schumacher made a relatively low-key return to Formula One following a three-year hiatus as he finished sixth with Mercedes after qualifying seventh.
And the 41-year-old German stressed it is too early to suggest the new rules have made the sport less exciting, however, insisting overtaking in F1 has always been less than in other forms of motor sport.
"If a football match finishes 0-0, is that necessarily not interesting?" he pondered. "If a basketball game is 100-100, is that more exciting?
"Formula One is not like motorcycle racing, or like basketball. It is Formula One and it has always had less overtaking than in other sports.
"Sure we can improve, that is quite clear. There are lots of people who have thought about how we can improve it. We know we would like to improve it but it is not so easy.
"It is what it is and the excitement is still there but differently."
Schumacher, meanwhile, refused to disclose what his season goals are and whether those have since been influenced by his performance in Bahrain.
Fellow Formula One veteran Rubens Barrichello has urged caution regarding his aspirations for the coming year but, while Schumacher admitted it was his love of the sport that brought him out of retirement, he has returned to win races.
"I think it is fair enough to be judged on results but I don't feel I need to give guidelines or references of when and how I will achieve them," he said.
"I am mainly here for enjoyment but at the same time I am not here to finish last. I am here to win. The joy is much better and higher if you are successful.
"Maybe I am a little bit addicted to challenge."