Sebastian Vettel believes the new engines sound uninspiring © Sutton Images Enlarge

World champion Sebastian Vettel has become the latest big name in Formula One to hit out at the sound of the new engines.

The new V6 turbos have been underfire since the opening round of the season when some members of TV audiences complained about the sound compared to the old V8s. Bernie Ecclestone and ex-Australian Grand Prix promoter Ron Walker have laid into the new formula, and Vettel joined their ranks on Thursday ahead of this weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix.

"It's shit," he said. "That's my opinion and I think for the fans as well. I think Formula One has to be spectacular and the sound is one of the most important things.

"When I was a small child, I don't remember much, but I remember when I was six years old and we went to see the cars live during free practice, the one thing I remember was the sound. How loud they were, to feel the cars through the ground and the whole ground was vibrating. It's a shame you don't have that."

However, McLaren's Jenson Button said it was not up to the drivers to complain about the sound of the cars.

"Go and race something else if you're not happy," he said. "As drivers we don't have an opinion where the cars are in terms of sound and feel.

"But when you cross the finish line first you've won a grand prix, so you don't care what the car sounds like or what it looks like. You've beaten the best in the world, and that's all you care about."

Despite retiring from the opening race, Vettel is confident Red Bull has competitive car, even if it's fragile.

"It was a relief to see that the package was quick, we just need to make sure that we get everything together and make the package reliable. I hope for here we can have a reliable package and keep up the performance and even improve from where we were in Australia. Anything is possible here. I wouldn't mind some rain here, Dan has proved that the car was quick in the wet as well last week so we will see."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.