It's time for Formula One to give something back to the fans. Specifically, it's time for F1 drivers get closer to the fans and to do more for the fans.

These viewpoints are gaining momentum and support from more and more people in the F1 paddock these days. Not to mention the spectators ...

Part of the mystique surrounding F1 is its exclusivity. Seeing a F1 driver in public is about as rare as some A-list movie star. But fan attendance at grand prix races has been slipping even in F1-crazy countries like Germany, Italy and England. Part of the problem is that for years many in the F1 paddock have only been concerned with TV ratings and not about the fans that actually attend the races.

F1 czar Bernie Ecclestone recently blasted the F1 drivers for ignoring the fans. A driver parade is held on the Sunday morning of each grand prix. At the European events the drivers are all on a flatbed truck trailer for the parade lap. Ecclestone said that the drivers spent more time talking to each other than waving to the fans at the German Grand Prix.

"We have to stop taking and start to give back to the public," Ecclestone said. "Look at the people who sat in the grandstand in 95-degree heat. All they had to look at from F1 on the Sunday morning before the race was the drivers parade. Twenty idiots on the truck chatting among themselves and not even acknowledging the crowd. They didn't bother to wave or anything. Well, if they don't in future, maybe we will have to fine them."

At races outside of Europe, classic convertible are used for the parade with just one or two drivers in each car.

"It's hard to keep everyone happy," Mark Webber said, "but I agree that we should do more for the fans. The fans get more out of us being in individual cars, let's say. Small things make a big difference. All of us being on the trucks, of course we are going to talk to each other. We are not going to not talk to each other."

Driver parades have only been part of F1 for about 10 years. Of course, a lot more needs to be done than just driver parades.

"You see at motorbike races that it is a little bit more open, potentially, to be closer and maybe get some interaction with the fans and the drivers, which I think is important, but we have to draw a line," Webber said. "It is not easy to keep everyone happy. The demands are always going up, whether it is from sponsors or it is from the teams, but I think we really have to respect the public."

Jarno Trulli agrees.

	Webber takes time to sign autographs earlier this season.

"Bernie (Ecclestone) is right because we are the leaders of the show, the stars of the show," Trulli said. "Somehow we have to give something back to the people who are coming here, buying the tickets and want to see us not only driving around the circuit, but if they have a chance, to shake our hands or get our autograph ... for us it is nothing, but for them it is quite a lot."

Rubens Barrichello says that F1 should take some lessons from racing in North America.

"I think we can do a lot more," Barrichello said. "In America, as a public, you can have a lot more options with radios, autograph sessions, things like this. We could do something more."

Jaguar Racing director Tony Purnell is also a fan of way things work in North America.

"I can say that our drivers are instructed to always cooperate with any activity that might be fan friendly," Purnell said, "and I would look very dimly on any behavior that brushed off fans. I am a fan of the NASCAR series, the way the drivers behave there, and I would like to see that duplicated in Formula One."

Both Juan Pablo Montoya and Jacques Villeneuve say that F1 cannot go as far as CART and have the paddock wide open to the public. It would simply be too chaotic.

Montoya's BMW WilliamsF1 team is about the only one that gets its drivers out amongst the fans on grand prix weekends.

"We always smile," Montoya said of the driver parades. "We always wave. You can always have ideas (how to get closer to the fans). I think Williams is the only team, for example, who take their drivers to the merchandise stands. I don't know which other teams do that, but that is the way to give it back to the fans."

Part of the problem is simply a lack of time. Between technical debriefs, which consume many, many hours of the drivers' time each weekend, press conferences, sponsor functions and, oh yes, actually driving out on the track, practically every moment of the drivers' time is spoken for from the time they arrive on Thursday until Sunday night.

"I wave to the crowd all the time and face towards them," Ralf Schumacher said of the driver parades. "But at the same time, getting more activities to the fans might be a thing (to do), but our workload, even if you don't believe so, it is quite hard with marketing and debriefs and interviews and other things we have to do. So there is not much free time left."

What about autographs sessions of some sort?

"If you see our schedule, when we have free time, when we work, it would be very difficult," Michael Schumacher said. "The problem is, very often I have noticed this, if you try and there is maybe 100 people and you cannot do all 100, so you do 10, then you have satisfied 10 but made 90 people more unhappy than they have been before. So you are always on the loser side."

	"	Somehow we have to give something back to the people who are coming here, buying the tickets and want to see us not only driving around the circuit, but if they have a chance, to shake our hands or get our autograph ... for us it is nothing, but for them it is quite a lot. "
		— Jarno Trulli

Trulli sees it a different way.

"I always give autographs," Trulli said. "Sometimes when you are rushing or not happy, you just give up. But normally I am one of those people who always stop and I am always available for any signature or photos. I normally stop. I cannot say in 100 times I stop 100 times, but 90 times I do. I remember when I was on the other side of the gate. It was nice when someone was available to see us for a photo or autograph."

"Look at DTM, where people are allowed to go into the paddock," Trulli said of the German touring car series that is very fan friendly. "Okay, this is crazy for F1, but people love to be part of the show. Some fans wait for hours and hours, and if you walk out and just say hello and leave, five minutes is enough, even if you don't sign for everyone, because sometimes there are 1000 people waiting and you cannot sign all of them. But if you do 10 or 15 signatures you make everybody happy."

Some of the tracks have taken their own initiative. This year, Spain, Germany, Hungary and Indianapolis all scheduled "pit walks" on the Thursday prior to the grand prix weekend. These allow ticket holders to get a close up look at the cars and some drivers.

The team owners have also been looking at the issue.

"As a collective group prior to one of the races recently we talked about some initiatives that would bring the fans closer to the sport and bring the drivers closer to the fans themselves," said Lucky Strike BAR Honda director David Richards. "We talked about a range of ideas and we agreed that what was necessary was a proper coordinated approach to this rather than just ad-hoc bits and pieces."

"I think you are going to see a number of initiatives next year that we are going to get the drivers closer to the fans on an organized basis," Richards adds. "I know that Bernie (Ecclestone) is very aware of this as well, so it is not something that has been ignored. It is something that all the team principals recognize at the moment and we are looking at a raft of ideas to achieve that."

It's time for F1 to give something back to the fans. And the good news is that many F1 people agree.

Dan Knutson covers Formula One for National Speed Sport News and ESPN.com.