Filed under: Motorsports
F1 drivers about to strike over outrageous license fees?
We'll call this a rumor for now, but there is some rumbling that the current roster of Formula 1 drivers is so fed up with the rise in FIA Superlicense fees that they may go on strike as early as the British GP at Silverstone next month. F1Fanatic is reminding us too that this wouldn't be the first such strike. Drivers refused to race way back in 1982 over similar issues. It's actually a pretty funny story and well worth a click to read.This current mess all stems from the World Motorsport Council's recent decision to hike fees for that license-to-thrill-at-will that is the FIA Superlicense. True, F1 drivers earn a ridiculous amount of money, but it's the principle of the matter.
As we recently explained, the standard fee for a Superlicense was just €1,690 for a newcomer, with an additional €447 for each championship point scored in the previous season when you returned the following year. The new fee structure now starts at a staggering €10,000 base fee, plus €2,000 per championship point. Kimi Raikkonen, for instance, fresh off his drivers championship last year, will have to pay €230,000, an unbelievable €199,255 more than last year. So it's not surprising these drivers might be upset. Break out the posterboard, sticks and markers lads. Or, you know, take it to court in the off-season so fans don't get really, really sore with you.
[Source: F1Fanatic]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Michael 1:35PM (6/19/2008)
My question is /why/?
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Michael 1:37PM (6/19/2008)
To clarify, I am not questioning the driver reaction, but rather the costs.
PaulPaul 1:45PM (6/19/2008)
nazi hookers' rates skyrocketed...
Richard 2:25PM (6/19/2008)
Nah! Not the nazi hooker rates that skyrocketed, it's transporting them to somewhere that the British press isn't has has got expensive!
John Johnson 1:36PM (6/19/2008)
That's really, really ridiculous. I hope they do strike.
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Mobius_1 1:43PM (6/19/2008)
Wow F1 is really just a business now, come on Bernie, you've got enough money, get some proper sport back to F1
And although that is one expensive license, I'm sure the F1 drivers earn way more than that, I mean, Lewis can spend 400k on a vanity plate!
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mk 1:50PM (6/19/2008)
I don't advocate striking, but I DO advocate abandonment.
Go start another race series, or go drive in some other established series, and give FIA the bird.
Fans will follow the racing, if the teams and drivers leave and go somewhere else.
In the free market, people vote with their feet when the price gets too high, and some other vendor provides the value at an acceptable price, and the greedy vendor goes out of business, or gets back in line.
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Throwback 1:54PM (6/19/2008)
Bernie is greedy. Plain and simple, why should any racing license cost nearly $500,000 per year?
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Carguy 2:22PM (6/19/2008)
Bernie isn't the FIA, he has nothing to do with it.
Shawn 2:30PM (6/19/2008)
That money goes to the FIA, not to Ecclestone, he doesn't have anything to do with it.
renmimby 2:32PM (6/19/2008)
The fee hike is not down to FOA/FOM (Bernie), he only controls commercial rights. The FIA (Max) controls superlicense fees.
Henry Reed 1:57PM (6/19/2008)
what kind of salaries do these drivers make? Is it possible the driver revenues have increased just as much? If not, this spike is grossly out of proportion.
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Shawn 2:31PM (6/19/2008)
Mid field salary is $8m per year
why not the LS2LS7? 4:35PM (6/19/2008)
Actually, I don't know where Shawn gets that.
Some F1 drivers actually have to PAY their teams in order to drive in F1. They hope to make this money back through the ads they can sell on their suits and other endorsement deals.
A lot of the drivers make nearly nothing in salary.
Pdexter 7:29AM (6/20/2008)
That's not really the deal anymore. I believe there's 2 drivers that drive for "free"? But other than that all are getting paid.
Kimi and Alonso reported to get the most and that's about 40 million euros.
Kitko 2:02PM (6/19/2008)
Some young guns in small teams do not earn millions, I remember Justin Willson, when he was with Minardi, flying from Germany to the UK on using a low cost airline after a race.
If that's true, it will be even more difficult for new drivers to get a drive. If they don't have a wealthy father like Jenson Button (his daddy got him to F1) or a protecting, couching and cushioning hand like Hamilton, you'd be screwed. 10,000 euros is a lot of money. And shame on you if you happen to score some points, your next season is doomed.
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tankd0g 2:03PM (6/19/2008)
Wow that costs almost as much as Hamilton's new license plate.
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Blake 3:04PM (6/19/2008)
Ha. I lol'd...out loud.
pmiddle5 6:45PM (6/19/2008)
Obviously some of the people maybe need their money taken away since they are being idiots about it.
beaz 2:27PM (6/19/2008)
these superlicense fees having nothing to do with Bernie Ecclestone. they are imposed by the FIA, so blame Max Mosley.
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