F1 drivers’ superlicence dispute over

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The dispute over F1 drivers’ superlicences has come to an end as the drivers have agreed to pay their fees.

Max Mosley had demanded the drivers pay an new fee for 2008 which would increase the FIA’s income from superlicences in that year from ?óÔÇÜ?¼330,000 (£293,000) to ?óÔÇÜ?¼1.5m (£1.33m).

After initially refusing to pay it the drivers have now accepted. Mosley had demanded they hand over details of how much they earned but the drivers refused, no doubt expecting Mosley would use that information to impose a cap on their salaries.

However the drivers are demanding a meeting with Mosley before the first race of the season at the end of next month.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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10 comments on “F1 drivers’ superlicence dispute over”

  1. They always do pay up and Mosley knows this.
    Did the drivers really achieve anything here?

    If you need a license to do your job, you just have to get it and then push the costs onto your customer. So maybe the drivers should be asking their teams for the extra money? Then the teams can work out if they are getting value out of their drivers.

  2. Interesting…

  3. i couldn’t agree more with mosely’s letter. they benefit a great deal from this, and should contribute something to the organization. even after this increase, it’s still pocket change to these princesses.

  4. Yeah, not forgetting that Bernie’s running a business, things cost money and he can demand what he wants.

  5. Its none of Mosley’s business what drivers earn, thats a private matter between the driver, their agent, and the team. If they wanted to release such information they can, but who the hell does he think he is demanding to know personal information such as this?
    There was absolutely no reason to give over than information, and there was no reason to demand that information, the only reason would have been so Mosely can prance around in front of the cameras and criticise the drivers to try to turn public opinion away from them.

    How about Mosely tell us what he earns. Its as much relevance to the discussion as anyone elses earnings.

    F1Yankee – it doesn’t matter what the price is compared to the salaries of the drivers, there is no way you can logically justify such a massive jump 2007-2008 other than just exploiting the drivers. If the FIA can point at something that changed by a similar amount over the same period and say “we needed to increase the fees in line with these costs”, then that might make it acceptable. But really, they just decided one day to screw as much money as they could from the drivers, with no justification.

  6. Mussolini's Pet Cat
    27th February 2009, 12:22

    poor bunnies

  7. lol so this disputes its almost over…

  8. ChickenMcNuggets
    27th February 2009, 17:29

    Maybe there’s been the shortest of ceasefires, but the actual DISPUTE evidently ISN’T over, is it, judging by that last paragraph? ;)

  9. Are F1 drivers the only ones that benefit from safe circuits? Do football players pay for the medical facilities available at an international tournament?

    I believe the circuit host is responsible for providing facilities for each race. As far as I’m concerned this is a fraud. Even if the drivers are paid billions its ridiculous.
    Being able to afford the license is not the issue, but the fundamental principles on which they are applied is what is at stake.

  10. Mosley is very bright, and has an accute legal mind.
    However, he is not a people person.
    He is getting more like his father (a well known facist sympathiser), and no doubt a dictator.
    What we need is for one of top teams to be sponsored by an S&M equipment supplier, na forget it, he would never retire!

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