FORUMula1.com - F1 Forum

[McLaren Fan]

I think it's only fair the drivers pay their fair share. A lot of work that has gone into improving safety standards over the decades, particularly after 1st May 1994, has cost the teams and FIA a fair bit of money. What I don't agree with is the current system whereby you pay your fees on the basis of how many points you scored in the previous season. Whether you are world champion or last place you benefit from the safety procedures just the same. I think the cost of a licence should be based on a percentage of what you earn that is uniform throughout the grid.

[Denthúl]

I think it's only fair the drivers pay their fair share. A lot of work that has gone into improving safety standards over the decades, particularly after 1st May 1994, has cost the teams and FIA a fair bit of money. What I don't agree with is the current system whereby you pay your fees on the basis of how many points you scored in the previous season. Whether you are world champion or last place you benefit from the safety procedures just the same. I think the cost of a licence should be based on a percentage of what you earn that is uniform throughout the grid.

What makes me angry about this more than anything else is that the price increase is inflation, which everyone else in the world has to deal with and a lot of us are struggling to afford it. They have plenty of money, a couple of Euros isn't much to them, especially those that live in 'tax havens'.

I do agree that the superlicence fee should be the same for everyone, though.

[McLaren Fan]

What makes me angry about this more than anything else is that the price increase is inflation, which everyone else in the world has to deal with and a lot of us are struggling to afford it. They have plenty of money, a couple of Euros isn't much to them, especially those that live in 'tax havens'.

I've not got a lot of sympathy for them either. I think it's pretty unfair that footballers take flak for their earnings when many Formula One drivers are being paid substantially more. In my view, the attitude of most Formula One drivers stinks to high heaven. It's one reason why I support a team rather than a driver.

[welshie]

Yeah it should be a flat rate for everyone. anyone know why it's linked to points?? Just seems random to me

[darwin dali]

I think it should be a percentage of a driver's income, like a tax.

[Lib]

It may well be a 500/600 per cent price hike, but it's still a tiny percentage of what those guys earn and they already paid it last year... In the current climate I don't really have a lot of sympathy...

[Gert]

So the FIA supply advanced medical facilites for F1 drivers do they Mr Mosley?

A. Every driver at the meeting (ie the Porsche Super Cup etc etc) get access to the facilities & B. It's not the FIA that pay for the circuit's medical facilties, it's the race promotor or, 'cos Bernie's not daft, the circuit. Thus Max's claim that he needs more money from the drivers to pay for it is boardering on being fraudulent.

The FIA in their current guise are a bunch of money grabbing (insert own expeltive here).

You may not be able to generate much sympathy with F1 drivers but if Max can screw more money out of the F1 drivers like this what's to say he can't start pulling the same stunt with all other licence holders?

Including those of us who do a spot of arsing about with racing cars at weekends?

Should we be forced to pay over the odds just because Max's landlords in Monaco have put the rent up?

I'm all in favour of the GPDA complaining about this & lest anybody think they won't be affected by it let me say that it's not just other licence holders who will feel this but the normal fan will too 'cos that's where all the price hikes in motorsport ultimately end up.

[bud]

all in all its easy for us peasants to say hey you earn enough so stfu but regardless i think the drivers know they can easily afford the cost but i think its the principle. the FIA is just scamming money i mean wtf the more points the more your license costs? thats unheard of!

[EwanM]

What makes me angry about this more than anything else is that the price increase is inflation, which everyone else in the world has to deal with and a lot of us are struggling to afford it. They have plenty of money, a couple of Euros isn't much to them, especially those that live in 'tax havens'.

I've not got a lot of sympathy for them either. I think it's pretty unfair that footballers take flak for their earnings when many Formula One drivers are being paid substantially more. In my view, the attitude of most Formula One drivers stinks to high heaven. It's one reason why I support a team rather than a driver.

At the same time. It's the teams that are more than willing to pay it out. So the blame doesn't completely fall at the feet of the driver.

[McLaren Fan]

I agree. Formula One is big business and teams have to pay the market rate. That's not entirely my point, though. All we hear from Formula One drivers is what a tough time they are getting and how lethal the sport is. It's all a complete rubbish. I'm fed up with the prima-donna whinging.

[McLaren Fan]

From Planet F1:

A Whinge Too Far...
Saturday 24th January 2009

F1 drivers - what are they like? They devote their whole lives to getting into F1.When they get there they move to Monaco and pay no tax, while maintaining privates jets, yachts, luxury homes etc. Their job as an elite pilot is protected by the FIA imposing the superlicense system, and then they start bitching when the governing body impose an inflation(ish)-based pay rise.

The FIA has done an incredible amount of work towards improving driver safety, both at the circuits and especially with the crash tests imposed on the car and the all-round build standards. Okay the drivers had to take a hike in 2008, but that was a long-overdue adjustment. If they're that bothered let their agents - on 20% of their income - stick their hands in their pocket.

It wasn't so long ago that Elio de Angelis lost his life at Paul Ricard while testing for Brabham. The 180mph impact, caused by a component failure in the car, caused severe injuries and he was dead within hours.

In those days the medical helicopter wasn't a requisite for test sessions. This week the Portimao test was brought to a halt because the helicopter couldn't fly. And the kind of accident that DeAngelis suffered would likely be survivable.

Robert Kubica wouldn't be alive today if the kind of crash protection available on a 1986 F1 car was present in his BMW when Jarno Trulli pushed him wide and into some frightening rolls at the 2007 Canadian GP. Yet I suspect that Kubica, who is the purist racer of them all and is not hung up about the size of his income, will be the least worried by the FIA's actions. He is closest to the spirit of the drivers of old who raced because they wanted to race, not because they aspired to big toys.

It is a privilege to drive an F1 car. F1 drivers are a member of the most select driving club on the planet (With the contraction of the grid, the pay-for-drive has virtually been eliminated).

While the rest of the world is worrying about whether they will still have jobs in twelve months' time, what their pensions are worth and how they're going to pay the bills, whinges about Superlicenses seem a bit petty.

What would they sooner do - live and pay tax in the countries they represent, whose fans buy their merchandise, or live as tax exiles and button the lip about a Superlicense that is proportionate to their success?

With the 2009 testing ban coming into force, F1 drivers will find they have much more time on their hands between each GP. So they can actually get out there and earn far more money with personal appearances etc than they could if they had a full season of testing obligations.

Max Mosley in his drive to get the teams to spend less has actually handed drivers a whole chunk of time back. They should be grateful.

FH

[racechick]

I agree. Formula One is big business and teams have to pay the market rate. That's not entirely my point, though. All we hear from Formula One drivers is what a tough time they are getting and how lethal the sport is. It's all a complete rubbish. I'm fed up with the prima-donna whinging.

Ah but where would we be and what would we talk about without them

[EwanM]

I agree. Formula One is big business and teams have to pay the market rate. That's not entirely my point, though. All we hear from Formula One drivers is what a tough time they are getting and how lethal the sport is. It's all a complete rubbish. I'm fed up with the prima-donna whinging.

Again to use footballers, as a comparison, once you get alot of money you become detached from the real world. That is the problem with alot of Grand Prix Drivers. There are many factors that further effect this for the drivers, mainly how closed the F1 paddock is to fans etc etc. - That's only another example though.

I agree. Formula One is big business and teams have to pay the market rate. That's not entirely my point, though. All we hear from Formula One drivers is what a tough time they are getting and how lethal the sport is. It's all a complete rubbish. I'm fed up with the prima-donna whinging.

Ah but where would we be and what would we talk about without them

Aye.

[7UpJordan]

Do any of the superlicence fees go to Bernie at all? If so, they have a right to whinge about that, but not if it's going towards FIA safety measures.

Again to use footballers, as a comparison, once you get alot of money you become detached from the real world. That is the problem with alot of Grand Prix Drivers. There are many factors that further effect this for the drivers, mainly how closed the F1 paddock is to fans etc etc. - That's only another example though.

I miss the days of when you could go for a walk down the pit lane and watch the teams practising pit stops. I never got the chance to see such a thing, but my dad and uncle were able to do so when they went to the British Grand Prixs at Silverstone in 1983 and 1988.

[Gert]

I'd just like to draw the forum's attention to my revised post in sea green above.

Thank you.