F1 Drivers Outraged Over Licence Costs
Jun 19, 2008
Superagurif1
Max Mosley, the FIA president, announced this year an increase in price and imposed it retrospectively from last year. The cost of the super-licence went up from £1,350 a season to £7,858 and the levy imposed on a driver for each point scored increased from £350 to £1,570. This means that drivers such as Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen - they earn a basic wage of £15-20 million a year - were charged about £180,000 for their licence for last season.
The FIA says that the price rise is justified not only by the huge wages commanded by drivers but also by the large expenditure incurred by the FIA and by race tracks on safety measures. But Alonso was not impressed.
“It is a very serious matter,” Alonso said. “We were talking about the price of the licence in the last couple of GPDA meetings. It is a ridiculous price. We are all agreed that it is not fair that it has increased so much. It is something we need to look at.
“I don’t know what the solution will be or what we will do but a strike at Silverstone, that is one possibility. Why not? We have approached the FIA two or three times about this but we have not had positive answers. Nothing has been agreed with them. We will look in more detail and have some clarification at the drivers meeting today.”
The degree of dissent varies, though Alonso maintains all the drivers agree about the need for a reduced fee at a flat rate. Hamilton said he would support what ever action the GPDA decided was appropriate. The ultimate sanction would be to boycott the British Grand Prix, though that would not be supported by Raikkonen. “It is never going to happen that all the drivers will strike.”
Red Bull’s Australian driver, Mark Webber, one of the three GPDA directors, rejected such action.
“You can’t threaten these guys, mate. You just don’t do it,” Webber said when asked how the drivers could pressure the FIA.
“We all love the sport. We wouldn’t go to Silverstone and say we can’t roll...we strive to get here and we don’t want to look like prima donnas.
“But the public need to understand how some of these things get decided.
Webber hoped the drivers would be able to discuss the matter with Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone this weekend, with Mosley staying away from races after a sex scandal.
“We can’t get a meeting with Max whereas we can see Bernie a lot easier,” he said.
