Mark Webber has told his fellow-Aussies to pray for rain at Albert Park or else they could well see the same level of “boredom” as we saw in Bahrain last weekend.
The Red Bull Racing driver’s tounge was only partly in his cheek when he told the Bangkok Post, “We normally get a pretty decent race in Bahrain, but that was boring wasn’t it?”
“Let’s hope there’s a surprise in store in Melbourne – everyone knows the weather is very changeable at this time of the year, so a lot of things could change and liven it all up.
“I reckon a bit of rain might help the entertainment value – yes, it could be useful!”
However, The 34-year old driver of 141 Grand-Prix wasn’t calling for a change to the rule book, more an in-depth understanding of it by the drivers.
“We had totally new regulations again last weekend and that race taught us a lot. For me, the fuelling thing is not such a big deal. All the cars are so quick now – which is what we drivers and the fans love – but trying to keep the right balance in everything to deliver good racing is not that easy.
“In the last race, I spent 48 laps staring at the gearboxes of first Michael Schumacher and then Jenson Button and there was nothing I could do to get past them.”
Fans and media alike have come together in calling for changes in the sport so that we can avoid watching cars follow each other around a track. F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone has, however, asked that we give the sport another four races as he doesn’t want to make any knee-jerk reactions and even went as far as blaming the teams for the dull racing.
“I had a meeting with the teams,” he said. “I told them that our business is about racing and entertaining the public. Not about computers and going fast for one lap.”
“The truth is that you cannot really have the teams playing a part in drawing up the sporting or the technical regulations. We need an outside set of engineers to do that – and then give the teams two years’ notice.”