F1 driving depth 'never been weaker' - Webber
Australia's Mark Webber is not excited by Formula One anymore and believes administrators have changed the sport.
Ex-Formula One driver Mark Webber feels the depth in the drivers' pool has "never been weaker" and argues the sport must make the cars "more exciting".
Webber retired from F1 at the end of the 2013 season and claims he does not "miss much at all" having moved to the World Endurance Championship where he races for Porsche.
The 39-year-old Australian, who went close to a world title in 2010 when he missed out to Red Bull team-mate Sebastian Vettel by 14 points, is just the latest to question the quality of modern F1 racing.
Webber does not blame the leading drivers such as Vettel - now at Ferrari - and Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton, but said the administrators have changed the sport.
"It's not the drivers' fault; these guys are on a phenomenal level," he told BBC Radio 5 Live.
"The depth has never been weaker, you go from the top-10 back, there's a lot of these pay drivers on the grid - this is not good. We need to get the calibre of drivers, the depth in the field.
"We've got it at the front, we need more depth, we need the cars to be more exciting; faster, noisier, just put them on a level where they're not close to other categories.
"Now they are; the cars I'm driving now are very similar in lap time; GP2 - the category below F1 - very similar lap time. Not right."
Webber insists he is not the only former or current F1 insider who is unimpressed with the new engine specifications.
"I was speaking to Sebastian Vettel's dad - Norbert - and he says, 'I don't get the goosebumps anymore'," he said.
With the cars' reduced speed, Webber also believes the top drivers are not being challenged.
"It's like a rugby union tackle 30 per cent softer, so the physical component is less," he said.
"The G-force in the corners, holding your breath, they were at their peak in the mid-2000s.
"You've just got to look at the lap times. All the lap records, the racing lap records are from that era, they're miles away [now]."