Racers who are good at driving at 185 miles an hour down a lake of a track are usually considered more courageous than the others. The late Ayrton Senna made his career thanks to wet races, the first being a stormy Monaco Grand Prix in 1994 when he drove an inferior Toleman to second place. He would have beaten Alain Prost to victory had the race not been stopped because of the dangerous conditions and protestations from Prost.

Although some racing series, like IndyCar in the United States, usually do not race in wet conditions, it is rare for Formula 1 to even delay a race for wetness.In 1993, Prost was dominating the season in a Williams when at the European Grand Prix, at Donington Park in England, Senna slalomed in his weaker McLaren from fourth place on the grid to the lead on the first lap. Prost made seven pit stops during the race, changing his tires to try to trump the water. But Senna eventually won.Even today, depending on how strong his team is, a driver will hope for a wet race or a dry one. Drivers at the back of the grid usually hope for rain, whereas those in top teams prefer dry conditions. The best cars are designed for maximum grip through mechanical and aerodynamic downforce, which do not count so much in the wet.''Generally, if you have a McLaren, a Ferrari or a Red Bull, then you like normal Grands Prix,'' Webber said. ''If you have a Force India or a Williams, you want it to rain every race.''Jaime Alguersuari, a driver at the weaker Toro Rosso team in 2011, said he preferred wet conditions because then the emphasis is more on his skill than on the car.''When I drive on the wet I know that I am going to be much farther in the front than in the dry,'' he said.

''In rainy conditions, you can do much more with the lines, much more with grip level because there is very low grip for everyone.''Vitantonio Liuzzi, a driver at the HRT team, said he preferred wet conditions because of the increased demands on the driver.''I love it because it gives more adrenaline to me, where in a way you drive blind,'' he said. ''It is about being in the right place at the right moment, at the right time, the right pit stop with the right tire choice - everything has to be at the right time.''''You don't just have to drive fast and drive perfectly,'' Liuzzi added. ''You need to be sharper with your head, your tire condition, not make mistakes, be consistent and speak to the team engineers all the time and help them understand the track in terms of puddles or dry places. It is a much more complex race, and I love these kinds of events because it is much harder for your mental state, but it can give you much more satisfaction.''Some drivers are naturally better in the wet than others, because of their driving style.''When you drive a car, either you manage it and feel it with the grip of the car, or, like me, you fix it on visual speed,'' said Jean Alesi, who drove in the Prost-Senna era and who had a reputation for being a master of wet races. ''If you do it through the grip you lose it very quickly - because when the track changes you can have scares. I do it visually, so if I am going too fast I fight to get the car back, but I do not do it by feeling the grip.''In the past, teams set up a car for wet or dry conditions, depending on the weather they expected, but the rules have inadvertently changed things.''Nowadays, there's not really a big difference between dry and wet set-up,'' said Lewis Hamilton, a former world champion who drives for McLaren Mercedes. ''In the past and in other categories, you softened the car a lot more. As you go into qualifying nowadays, you can't change between qualifying and the race and so the set-up is generally very similar from dry to wet.''One of the keys to success is, of course, the wet-weather tires, and choosing the right ones at the right time. The two main types of rain tires have smaller treads for lighter rain or thick, heavy treads for strong rain.The most tricky conditions are when the rain is beginning or ending and the track is becoming wet or drying.''When it is straightforward rain, constant rain and wet conditions, then the car's performance is still important because there are a lot of other drivers also good in the rain,'' said Heikki Kovalainen, a driver at Team Lotus. ''But when it gets a little more tricky, either drying or getting wetter little by little, then in these conditions you can perhaps get more out of your car than some other people.''