The FIA have unveiled a raft of proposals to radically overhaul F1 in 2008.
Max Mosley, president of the sports governing body, said the plans represented probably the biggest package of changes Formula 1 has ever seen.
The changes encompass technical rules, sporting regulations and even more general issues such as how future decisions should be reached.
Mosley said a massive overhaul of the sport was needed because costs were spiralling out of control.
He told Reuters: "The reason for doing it now is that I think there is a really serious problem in Formula 1 with the amount of money that is being spent.
"Several of the major manufacturers are starting to look at what they are spending on engines and wondering whether they are getting value for money. Teams are finding it difficult to get enough sponsorship to meet their costs.
"There is a risk that we will start to see big problems if we don't do something."
Top of the list of measures the sport's governing body would like to introduce are 2.4 litre V8 engines that must last two races.
The FIA also want to see the return of manual gearboxes and manually operated clutches.
Power steering and electronically controlled differentials would be scrapped while all cars would be fitted with standard electronic control units and braking systems.
These proposals are bound to aggravate those people who believe that F1 should be at the cutting edge of technological innovation.
But Mosley fired back: "If people don't go and watch it (F1), it doesn't matter how cutting-edge it is. It will fail.
"People are really interested in the human contest but obviously in very high performance machines. If you have too much technology and not enough driver, the public will start to lose interest."
Aside from the technical changes, the FIA also want to see a number of alterations to F1's sporting regulations.
Cars will be held under parc ferme regulations for the entire race weekend with spare cars banned.
There would be restrictions on testing, with limits imposed on mileage rather than the number of days. This would be enforced by monitoring the standard electronic control units.
There would be a single tyre manufacturer, with the supply contract being overseen by the FIA.
If the FIA gets its way, a new, as yet unspecified, qualifying system will be introduced.
But perhaps most interestingly of all, there will be no restriction on the sale or loan of chassis and components between teams. This opens up the possibility of the likes of Minardi buying and running the previous year's Ferrari or McLaren.
Mosley said he hoped the changes would trim the budget of a typical F1 team to between $15 and $20million, half what even Minardi currently spend.
New entries will be encouraged in a bid to swell the F1 grid to a maximum of 12 teams.
Moves are also afoot to ensure that changes to technical and sporting regulations will be subject to majority voting - under the present Concorde Agreement, the teams must be unanimous for a rule to be accepted.
FIA president Max Mosley has invited the team principals, technical directors and engine bosses to a meeting on Tuesday 4 May to discuss the proposals.
Ferrari's Jean Todt, Sir Frank Williams and Flavio Briatore of Renault have all so far agreed to attend, as have BAR's David Richards, Peter Sauber and Eddie Jordan.
In a letter to those six, Mosley explained the reasoning behind the proposals and invited the team bosses to make further suggestions.
He wrote: "Thank you for accepting our inviation for 4 May.
"Attached you will find a summary of our preliminary proposals, which have six main objectives:
to improve the racing spectacle without introducing artificial rules
to put a greater emphasis on driver skills by finally eliminating electronic driver aids
to reduce the cost of operating a front-running Formula 1 team
to reduce very substantially the cost of operating a smaller competitive Formula 1 team
to encourage new teams to enter Formula 1
to encourage a full grid of 24 cars
"Please feel free to put forward any additional ideas which you feel may help achieve the above objectives and also to suggest additional means of ensuring the ongoing success of Formula 1."
Mosley said he wants to present final proposals to the World Motor Sport Council on 30 June, despite the fact that, under the Concorde Agreement, the regulations do not need to be confirmed until the end of 2005.
