Look, we know the postponement and possible cancellation of the Bahrain Grand Prix is likely to be driving regular Formula One fans a bit batty. Another couple of weeks to wait for racing action to start is a bit difficult to take. Especially after the 2010 season was such a ripper. But imagine how the big boss of F1 must be feeling.
Well, wonder no more because Bernie has left us in little doubt as to his mental state going by a recent interview published over at Formula1.com. Or has he, read the full interview and the snippets below, and let us know what you think.
The interview covers a range of topics, but it’s when Bernie Ecclestone starts discussing ways to make F1 more exciting that he possibly goes off the rails a bit—especially when he suggests the sport should consider introducing artificial rain during races.
[Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images | Thanks to Matt for the tip]
Text below sourced from Formula1.com:
Q: Sebastian Vettel recently criticised the radical ways of Formula One racing, especially the moveable rear wings. He believes they are only on the car to satisfy the TV audience. Do you agree?
BE: He’s probably right. It is very difficult to control it by the stewards because the window of usage is very small. The chances for protests are inevitably there. To me this system looks pretty dangerous. What if the wings are not up again before the corner and the driver is lacking downforce? That could easily lead to incidents. We have to observe it carefully.
Q: Are there any ideas that you’re considering to boost excitement?
BE: I stick to it – let’s have medals instead of points. 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!
Q: Any more ideas?
BE: Yes. Look at the races we have now. 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…
Q: Making rain?
BE: Yes. 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.
2 replies on “Has Bernie jumped the shark?”
[…] week Bernie Ecclestone raised a few eyebrows when he suggested introducing artificial rain to races to help spice things up. While it’s […]
When Formula 1 implements 4 cylinder engines, it will definately jump the shark. What a joke!