Mark Webber unhappy with Ecclestone's 'fake rain' idea

Mark Webber has dismissed Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone's idea to liven up grands prix with sprinklers to make tracks artificially wet

"No and no," Red Bull driver Webber told the BBC when asked whether the sport needed such measures and whether he was in favour of them.

"It wouldn't be the most sophisticated way to make the show more entertaining," added the Australian.

Mercedes GP boss Nick Fry was also unconvinced with the idea.

"I think Bernie's putting forward some entertaining ideas but Formula 1 is about contending with the conditions that prevail at the time," said Fry.

"I think that fiddling with those conditions artificially is not the nature of Formula 1.

"The beauty of Formula 1 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."

Webber added: "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."

Ecclestone suggested the sprinklers could be switched on with no more than a two-minute warning to ensure suspense.

"I'm happy to make it happen," the 80-year-old told the BBC on Thursday.

"My idea is that we should make a programme that nobody knows exactly which programme is going to be used and it would start at some time during the race. It would be raining effectively.

"It would maybe stop and maybe rain again later. Or maybe not. So nobody would know."

Ecclestone did find some support from Paul Hembery, motorsport director of Formula 1's new tyre supplier Pirelli.

"I thought Bernie Ecclestone's comments were quite interesting," he told autosport.com.

"Straight after our recent successful (wet-weather) Abu Dhabi test I saw him and said, 'Why don't we do an artificial wet race?' The technology is such that you can wet a circuit with a sprinkler system, so the idea is not as daft as it sounds."

Source: BBC Sport