Pirelli director Paul Hembery backs Bernie Ecclestone's artificial rain – Formula one update
Pirelli motorsport director, Paul Hembery, has backed Bernie Ecclestone's idea of throwing in artificial rain to make the desert circuits more competitive in terms of overtaking. He said that as the talks of un-eventful desert circuits are circling the Formula One world, the artificial rain will help make tracks exciting and bring more spectators to the track.
Formula One Boss, Bernie Ecclestone, said the other day, “There are race tracks that you can make artificially wet and it would be easy to have such systems at a number of tracks.” Hembery followed up on Bernie’s statment and said, “I thought Bernie Ecclestone's comments were quite interesting.”
Pirelli have done some wet tyre tests earlier this year in Abu Dhabi to simulate the conditions in Asia and they came up with the idea of making artificial rain. Hembery said that a sprinkler can be used to wet the circuit for some laps which will induce more overtaking. Justifying his statement he said that with sprinklers, the drivers will not have the visibility problem associated with rain because there will be clear skies.
Sir Jackie Stewart made public his comments about the dull circuits in desert areas few days ago and said that these circuits make the sport boring. He cited an example from last year, when Fernando Alonso only needed to get into fourth place at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to win the title but was held off by Renault and their inexperienced rookie driver, Vitaly Petrov. He tried the whole race and was unable to get in front of him before Ferrari’s strange pit-stop strategy cost him the title.
In these circumstances, when everybody is pointing out the Middle East circuits, the idea of artificial rain will bring more spectators to the track. Hembery had other innovative ideas to make the sport more interesting. He mentioned bringing in the safety car every now and then to close in the gap between the cars. He also added that this method might be too harsh for the drivers. He said, “in terms of throwing something of a new challenge, like an artificial wet race, at drivers, tacticians and engineers, it would be great.”
Some drivers are already pointing at the new innovations in the sport, like the movable rear wing and its controversial use. Some critics view these innovations as just gimmicks to bring in more spectators and crowds. As it is clear from past races, wet conditions infuse more risk into the sport. The drivers might just be the most vocal adversaries to the artificial rain because they are the ones that would be at the most risk because of it.
Tags: