Bernie Ecclestone believes artificial rain could liven up dull races © Sutton Images
It might have been mocked by many, but Bernie Ecclestone's suggestion that races could be spiced up by artificial rain has found supporters within Formula One.
"The idea is not as daft as it sounds," Pirelli's F1 boss Paul Hembery told the Daily Telegraph. "You could argue that running at night under lights is a gimmick. But Singapore has turned out to be one of the most spectacular races of the season. At the end of the day you want people to watch what you are offering."
In the Sun, former grand prix winner Johnny Herbert said: "People will say it is artificial but it would be the same for everybody. Many of the best races in the past few years have been when it has rained."
And John Watson, a grand prix winner in the 70s and 80s, added: "I first proposed this to Bernie in 1994 … fans want to see exciting races where the drivers are made to work."
However, another former driver, Jos Verstappen, disagreed, describing the idea as "ridiculous". He continued: "You have to let nature take its course and you don't want to be influencing it. In my opinion it's simple: if it rains, it rains, and when it's dry, it's dry.
"Personally I could always cope well in the rain, but I always hoped for dry weather. No driver is ever hoping for rain. Everyone just wants to race as hard as possible and as fast as possible, so I'm expecting little support to come of this idea."
On Tuesday Ecclestone said: "We always had the most exciting races in the wet so let's think of making rain… there are race tracks that you can make artificially wet and it would be easy to have such systems at a number of tracks. 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."
Credit: ESPN F1 (en.espnf1.com)
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