Leave it to Timo to spell it out for those who have been siding with Max on the astronomical price increase of a Super License. Many have argued that these drivers are all multi-millionaires and can afford 10%of their wages for their craft. I have argued that this is not the case as not all drivers are raking in the Lewis Hamilton comp package. Some drivers are paying to drive and others are making more reasonable salaries with incentives or corrective measures in them.
The argument that “well these guys make tons of money so they can afford it” doesn’t hold water with me as it is all relative. Timo probably doesn’t make the cash everyone has ascribed to drivers as they usually think of Kimi, Lewis, MAssa et. al. when it comes to pay. The simple question is, “why such a ddrastic increase and what is prompting the increase?”. If it is safety costs, asa argued by Maximilian Mosley, then tell us what that is for and what percentage increase it is over last year or 2007. It sounds like a fleecing or money-grab to me and while most of the world is not compassionate about the drivers being asked to “pay for their trade” I am afraid I stand alone in my assertion that paying for a trade is fine but being fleeced for it is irresponsible.
“Maybe not everyone is a millionaire in F1,” Glock told autosport.com about his feelings on the situation.
“It is my first year, and it is expensive. It is an expensive licence, and you see in all other motorsport categories that there is not even anything close to that amount of money. But it is for everyone the same.”
Glock will have to pay 62,900 Euros for his licence for 2009, as a result of the 25 points he scored last year.
He says that although the drivers have no choice in needing to pay for the licences, he still wants some answers about why the costs are so high.
“We have to wait and see (what happens), but in the end I don’t know why we have to pay so much money,” he said. “For me it is too extreme the increase from last year to this year, and from 2007 to 2008.
“The point is that there is no real explanation for that amount of increase. At the end, we have to pay for it. That is how it is.”
You can read the full story here as the MB’s at Autosport have done a great job of sharing their contextual analysis.
