Nizer

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/mot...et-tracks.html

Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone wants to make races more exciting with 'artificial wet tracks'
By Emily Benammar 1:06PM GMT 01 Mar 2011

Bernie Ecclestone has suggested the introduction of artificial wet tracks would go a long way in adding to the thrilling and unpredictable nature of Formula One racing.

This season will already see the introduction of the adjustable rear wing to aid overtaking, but, in a bid to further liven things up on the track, Ecclestone wants rain intervals interjected into races.

"Look at the races we have now," he said. "Overtaking is almost impossible because in the dry there is only one line good for maximum speed because of the rubber on the track. You have a completely different picture when it is wet. 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 10 laps? Maybe with a two-minute warning ahead of it. Suspense would be guaranteed and it would be the same for all."

Just 12 months after the new-look points system was introduced, it seems Ecclestone has other ideas to boost drivers' hunger for the championship.

Adamant that medals not points is the way forward, the 80 year-old continued: "Drivers want to win and they are not racing for second, third or fourth place so let’s have a system where wins count.

"Last season it would have worked pretty well. Vettel and Alonso would have been even after the last race with five gold medals each, and the same number of silver and bronze medals. Vettel would have won the world championship because he had more fourth places … I call that a thriller."

Look ahead to the season-opener which will now be in Australia following the postponement of the Bahrain Grand Prix due to civil unrest, Ecclestone named Red Bull as his pre-championship favourites.

"It looks like Red Bull again has the best car and the others have to close a gap before the first race."

And when asked which of their drivers he favoured if no one else manages to catch them, Ecclestone opted for Sebastian Vettel.

sbelles

Lets just have Bernie and Max run across the track every ten min.

Larry Herman

Ecclestone ha become a senile old man. His idea of a good show is a circus. F1 needs to be the technological leader, not a gimmick laden side-show. Want to get more passing, more pit stops, more excitement? Go back to iron/steel rotors, raise the weight of the cars, reduce the aero more, make the fuel tanks smaller and let the engineers figure out how to make them go. All these ill-conceived, bonehead tricks make me nauseous.

Nizer

And I'd add, get rid of the Tilke parking lot tracks and reintroduce some real tracks that require not just superior synapses but judgment, courage, and calculated risk taking.

And P.S, at this rate F1 is just one step away from forced yellows ala NASCAR...

J richard

+1000

BrianKeithSmith

The next time someone says NASCAR=WWF - needs to re-read this article!

"Fernando, pit pit the "rain" is coming" - Fernando pits, gets wet tires, pulls out, all of a sudden the sprinklers come on, other competitors sliding off the track, bouncing through the grass, and it is Ferrari for the WIN! - come on people.... That's just plain nuts.

DAVISRILEY

Bernie needs to go, pure and simple.

multi21

Last year as a joke I said every track needed to have embedded sprinklers.... as a joke.... because there is nothing like an F1 race in the wet.

That blow to the head Bernie took when he got mugged in London has really affected him.

Pay no attention to this fool. He is the one that proposed "short cuts" on tracks last year to spice things up. IF ANY of these hairbrained ideas of his were to come to light, I'd have to start watching NASCAR for the "sport of it" because F1 would have become a farse.

Larry, there WILL be more pit stops this year because the Pirellis are not holding up on long runs. Count on it.

chrenan

F1 has jumped the shark.

multi21

Ecclestone hints at summer Bahrain race

Bernie Ecclestone hints at a summer date for the Bahrain Grand Prix, with decision over rescheduled race to be taken before the Australian race at Albert Park
Bernie Ecclestone has hinted that the Bahrain Grand Prix could be slotted into F1's summer break in August after revealing that a decision on whether to reschedule the cancelled season-opener will be taken before the Australian Grand Prix.

Political unrest in the Gulf state, which has resulted in a number of deaths, forced the cancellation of the Bahrain race although the possibility was immediately raised that the event could be run towards the end of the season instead.

Such a move would be dependent on the FIA giving the decision the green light and Ecclestone has now revealed that the governing body is set to make a decision on the race before the Australian GP at the end of the month.

While the end of the season would be the most logical position for a revised race – possibly as a double-header with Abu Dhabi – Ecclestone said there was a possibility that the race could run in August, despite the high temperatures that teams and drivers would be left to face.

“To do that [reschedule the race] the FIA has to change the calendar, and Bahrain has to apply for a new slot,” he told the official F1 website. “The FIA World Council will meet at the beginning of March and could look into the situation. I have already spoken with FIA President Jean Todt about the possibility of finding a new date and we both agreed that a decision has to be made before the season starts.

“We need a race in Bahrain. If the Crown Prince is of the opinion that his country is able to host a race we will return to Bahrain. I think the teams are sensible enough even to race in Bahrain in the summer break, and despite high temperatures, because this is the way we can support the country.”

Both Ecclestone and the FIA have been underfire for not taking the decision to cancel the Bahrain race earlier, but the commercial rights holder said the situation had been handled correctly and that the race couldn't have been canned any earlier.

“That was not possible,” he said. “Shortly before the crisis I had lunch with the Crown Prince and there was absolutely no indication of what would come just days after. He was full of ideas for the future then shortly after the chain of events set in. There was almost no time to react.

“Of course we needed a decision by February 21, and that is what I told him. He asked what I would do if I were him, and I answered, 'You are there. We in Europe are hardly in the situation to make a serious judgment of the conditions. Decide what is best for your country'. He then cancelled the race and I think it was the right decision.

“It was not an easy one, as it was Formula One that put Bahrain on the map. Before 2004 - when Formula One raced there for the first time - not many people knew Bahrain.”

bobt993

Each team should have the opportunity to create an obstacle on the track eg, car parts or have the pit crews use small explosives to create pot holes in high speed corners and any such obstacle should not render a flag. Flags should come out after the first car gets damaged from the situation.

Larry Herman

So Flav having Nelson Piquet crash was just ahead of his time?

Nizer

Bring on the studded snows...

gums

All we need to do is go back to circa 1985

Chaos

Dressed as ***** with scantly clad gri girls whipping them !!!