By Chris Hayes and Hugh Podmore
GPDA Director and Red Bull driver Mark Webber has ruled out the possibility of a driver strike over the rising cost of a Formula One superlicence.
The Grand Prix Drivers Association (GPDA) has been at loggerheads with the FIA in recent weeks over the markedly higher cost of an F1 superlicence, which over the past two seasons has risen from 1,725 Euros plus 456 Euros per point in 2007, to 10,400 Euros plus 2100 Euros per point for 2009.
The drivers have complained about the lack of consultation and the principle that they should pick up the tab for FIA expenditure, while FIA President Max Mosley has said he will only look at the issue if the drivers disclose their gross income, a request he knows will fall on deaf ears.
While Mosley has made it clear that any driver without a superlicence will not be able to race, an out-and-out driver strike at the season opening Australian Grand Prix is highly unlikely, even during practice, and already three drivers have completed their licence application.
“I don’t think we’ll strike. It wouldn’t be fair to the fans,” Webber told Forumula1.com in Jerez.
