Tortoise shells & hula-hoops: You tell us how to spice up Formula 1

Does the crazy world of Mario Kart offer a solution to F1's malaise...? Probably not.

"Are you not entertained? Is this not why you're here?"

So came the thunderous cry from Maximus Decimus Meridius in Ridley Scott's modern classic 'Gladiator', the eponymous hero turning his ire on the crowd after yet another bloody success in the arena of battle.

Formula 1's modern-day gladiators might feel moved to similar sentiments were it not for the fact that they themselves do not seem so very entertained by the sport these days.

And if the men sitting with 600bhp under their right boot feel that way, what hope is there for the fans?

Drivers claim they are no longer physically and mentally challenged by F1

'I will win the crowd. I will give them something they have never seen before'

Formula 1 bosses have accepted the need to introduce measures to help make the the sport more exciting, while the Grand Prix Drivers' Association on Thursday launched a global survey to ask fans what they want to see in F1.

To help them out, we asked you in our live text coverage of Monaco Grand Prix practice for suggestions on how to make the sport more exciting.

From turning the sport into a one-make series to arming cars with deadly tortoise shells, here are a selection of your thoughts:

'Rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic'

"If there's no overtaking, there's no excitement, and if there's no excitement, people won't watch. Just making the caravan of cars go faster but still with no overtaking is just rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic. When results are no longer uncertain, it's a turn off. How to get more overtaking? Change the aero regulations so cars can more easily follow each other through corners and get close enough to have a chance to overtake." Nigel MacGeorge"

Change the designs, allow closer racing and promote overtaking without all these silly aids. Forget the sparks just real fast racing."Roger Moth

Level up the playing field

"Need to make sure the 'lesser' teams are getting a fair deal financially. Teams like Minardi were crucial in developing talent."Ben Harvey Sporle

"Give the teams the same prize money each e.g. £100m to pay staff build car etc. When it's gone that's it for the year. Level field."Thom Hutchinson

Lewis Hamilton to drive a Manor-Marussia?

"All cars the same! Simple. May the best driver win or each race, a driver has a different car, so every driver gets the chance to drive in the top cars etc. This will prove the best driver and also the best car. If the top drivers are good, they should be able to score points with the less performing cars."Ben Wallcroft

"Every driver has to drive each of the other team cars at least once. The drivers' championship and team championship are separate."Joseph Murphy

No rules and no limits?

"I think it's time to throw the rule book in the bin and have one simple rule - go as fast as you can as safely as you can."Dafydd Eveleigh

"Let the engineers go nuts. Only rules that cars have four wheels, one driver and a set size engine. Anything else goes!"Shaun Hughes

"Unlimited fuel so cars can go flat-out for the entire race would be my main change. Far too much fuel saving & tyre management in my opinion."Ryan Blythe

"Take away all the restrictions and let the teams make the cars as fast as possible. I'd watch it if it had more overtaking! It's pretty dull in its current format."Ben J D Reynolds

Back to the past?

"Bring back the 'old' qualifying format of 12 laps. It was a skill for drivers/teams to navigate traffic and time the runs."Terry Davoren

"Cars from 2004 and 2005 were the best. Bodywork like those as well as screaming engine power will boost TV audiences."Philip Aston

Were the cars from 2004 and 2005 the best ever seen in F1?

What the drivers think

"Maybe we need to make the tyres wider to give more mechanical grip. We need to be a little bit quicker, through the years the cars are getting slower and slower, maybe we need to make the cars a bit quicker and maybe make them look nicer, they looked amazing with the aerodynamic pieces in 06 and 07, after 2004 the car just got slower year on year." Williams driver Felipe Massa

"Refuelling can be unsafe but I love the racing we had with refuelling, you can make the racing more fun it will bring something different to the sport." McLaren's Jenson Button

"No-one's going to say they don't want to go faster, I don't think we're fast enough, and we're well within the limits, go quicker that would be awesome, bit more noise might put us back up to more heroic status as drivers."Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo

Maybe we need tortoise shells?

"Have half the cars go round the track in the opposite direction." Mark Scales

"After so many laps, drivers have to pull into pits and spin a hula-hoop and they've to reach a target before going back out."Max Baggins-Craig

"It's always gotta be Mario Kart-style tortoise shells!"Jessica C

"Well...how about we clone Lewis Hamilton…"Ipkw

He's already been immortalised in wax. Is cloning next for Lewis Hamilton?