Mark Webber has spoken out against Bernie Ecclestone's proposal to artificially wet tracks in order to make grands prix more exciting.
Australian against idea of introducing fake rain in GPs
Mark Webber has spoken out against Bernie Ecclestone's proposal to artificially wet tracks in order to make grands prix more exciting.
Earlier this week, the F1 supremo suggested creating artificial rain during races to spice up the sport.
"Why not let it 'rain' in the middle of a race? For 20 minutes or the last ten laps? Maybe with a two-minute warning ahead of it. Suspense would be guaranteed and it would be the same for all," he told the official F1 website.
And although Pirelli's motorsport boss Paul Hembery says the idea is "quite interesting", not everyone is backing Ecclestone.
"No and no," Webber told the
BBC when asked whether F1 needed to use such measures and whether he would support the idea.
"It wouldn't be the most sophisticated way to make the show more entertaining.
"It can be more exciting when we have some different weather conditions, that does happen. But you just try and think of Jimmy Clark, and Jackie Stewart and (Ayrton) Senna and those guys, masters in the wet.
"Jackie's still here but the other two would be turning in their graves if they thought we'd have sprinklers and hoses lined up around the track."
Fiddling
Mercedes GP chief executive Nick Fry is another who is against the proposal, saying it goes against the "nature" of Formula One.
"I think Bernie's putting forward some entertaining ideas but... Formula One is about contending with the conditions that prevail at the time," he told
Reuters.
"I think that fiddling with those conditions artificially is not the nature of Formula One.
"The beauty of Formula One is that there is now huge variety... we have races in the evening and during the day and halfway between the two and I don't think anyone could say that last year was boring. It was tremendous and I'm sure that this year will be better still."
