Formula One's proposed regulations for 2008 are more of a concern than commercial issues in talks to end the threat of a rival series, a top Honda official has said.

The glamour sport is split into two camps, with major carmakers threatening their own championship from 2008 unless they get far more of the revenues, transparency and a level playing field.

They also want F1 to remain a high-tech battleground whereas the governing International Automobile Federation (FIA) wants to cut costs and encourage smaller, independent teams.

"I think we see some sign of getting close and some compromise and some good discussion is going on," Yasuhiro Wada, president of Honda Racing Development and a board member of the Honda F1 team, said this week.

"But after seeing the 2008 regulation proposals from the FIA, honestly speaking many people are upset about it," he added. "We need to talk with the FIA about the future regulations.

"I think the commercial area is not such a big issue for us. We are not racing for commercial reasons so we can compromise on money allocation and so forth. It's not the first priority," added the Japanese.

"The reason we are racing is for technical things. If the technical regulations go like the 2008 proposal, it's not a very interesting area. Three-race gearbox and so on, where is the technology?"

The existing agreement governing the sport expires in 2007.

Formula One will have 11 teams this season with Japan's Super Aguri confirmed as a new entrant by the sport's governing body yesterday. The acceptance of the Honda-powered team, whose entry was initially rejected after a $48 million bond was not paid by a November deadline, puts 22 cars on the starting grid for the first time since the demise of Arrows in 2002.