The entire grid of Formula One drivers are refusing to accept a new tariff for their FIA superlicenses in 2009, as the protracted moaning between the two super-rich sides of the debate over a relatively paltry amount of money continues to rumble on. According to autosport.com, the issue is over a new series of price hikes for the coming season, which will see the multi-millionaires fork out 10,400 Euros (plus 2,100 Euros per point scored in 2008) for their requisite licenses. To highlight the impact this would have on the drivers, world champion Lewis Hamilton, who allegedly earned upwards of 80 million Euros last season, would be forced to part with an incredible 218,920 Euros for the right to race in 2009.
Despite the fact that the increase is simply the result of inflation, the drivers are unhappy because a larger increase last year was accepted providing justification was given. Last season saw the cost of a superlicense swell by over 500 percent from 1725 Euros (plus 456 Euros per point) to 10,000 Euros (plus 2,000 Euros a point). The arguments that this ridiculously minor sum of money threatened to come to a head at Silverstone last year, with a drivers' strike mooted, but thankfully there was no such petulance on display.
The Grand Prix Drivers' Association has already contacted the FIA to debate the costs, but apparently Max Mosley has said he would only be willing to reconsider the fees if the drivers provided details of their earnings to check whether the fee was "too high".
With less than 60 days to go before the teams arrive in Melbourne to start the new season, the license issue will be discussed in boring detail at the next meeting of the Formula One Teams' Association next month. Ahead of this meeting, the GPDA has advised drivers not to sign up for the new license.
An e-mail sent to all the GPDA members apparently states that "(The) Superlicence issue will be addressed at the next FOTA meeting which will take place on February 3...We would like you to wait approximately three more weeks to sign or pay for the Superlicence. This should give us enough time to hear from the FOTA and at the same time increase our pressure on the FIA."
The row looks set to rumble on throughout the off-season, then. And all for a sum of money that, relatively speaking, is around the same as someone on a "real world" salary complaining about a 3p increase on the coffee in their office canteen.
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