You know, when I saw that Bernie was suggesting artificial rain, I had to laugh.
I still contend that an artificial wet race would be a heck of a lot of fun. It will never happen though, if only due to the environmental impact it would have. The amount of water required to keep an entire track wet, per unit of time is monumental.
I think if they staged an artificial wet race as a one-off, it would certainly attract a lot of media attention, but I can't see it as a regular occurrence.
Oh and to have the sprinklers on for only a short time wouldn't make much difference. The water would dry out so quickly, that it just wouldn't have enough of an effect. I can see the RBR cars opening up a gap at the front, at a rate of 1s/lap over the rest of the field, for half the race. The sprinklers come on and Hamilton/Button begin to close the gap. Sprinklers go off and RBR cars once again open up a huge gap, very quickly.
If you have to get wet, you need at least 80% full wet race.