Driver Strike! Driver Strike! - F1 Teams - Pay Your Drivers

[Nem14]

It is absurd that some of F1's drivers are not being paid money they are due.

Apparently Lotus is still in arrears in paying Kimi Raikkonen's contract obligated 2013 season wages.

Add Romain Grosjean, Nico Hulkenberg, Adrian Sutil and Kamui Kobayashi as also waiting on overdue payments.

"It is believed that, under the auspices of their union, the GPDA, the F1 drivers have signed a document vowing to strike if the growing trend of not being paid continues." http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/dr...-unpaid-wages/

[Whyzars]

Bummer that teams are struggling. They probably could've done without the cost of all the new hardware but auto makers rule the sport these days.

A union of millionaire drivers does not have much muscle. We had a pilots strike at the end of the 80's and I think there are still pilots working at the local supermarket.

There are a hundred equally talented drivers who can fill their seats and will do it for peanuts.

Teams are likely paying their engineers and pit crew's though - they are not so easily replaced.

[Storm]

Don't expect any money from Force India

owned by Sahara and Kingfisher = both of which are in dire straits currently
wasting money in F1, while Kingfisher airline employees were not being paid for over 10 months..
while Sahara is a joke, with the head in jail currently for contempt of court and with 200 billion INR of investor's money still to pay out..

[Ranger]

Don't expect any money from Force India

owned by Sahara and Kingfisher = both of which are in dire straits currently
wasting money in F1, while Kingfisher airline employees were not being paid for over 10 months..
while Sahara is a joke, with the head in jail currently for contempt of court and with 200 billion INR of investor's money still to pay out..

Times are bad.

Even Vijay Mallya can only afford half a haircut...

[steveaki13]

Makes you wonder despite two new teams potentially for 2015 whether 3 old teams might disappear.

[MrJan]

A union of millionaire drivers does not have much muscle. We had a pilots strike at the end of the 80's and I think there are still pilots working at the local supermarket.

There are a hundred equally talented drivers who can fill their seats and will do it for peanuts.

True story. While there isn't a driver of the quality of Kimi on every street corner there are a number of people decent enough that will do the job for free. Given the chance (and if I was a good enough driver) I'd do the job for the cost of room and board...and I wouldn't be fussy, in fact I'd be quite happy to camp out on the garage floor.

[anfield5]

I guess there are two issues here.

1. If a driver or any other employee is contracted to a team the team is obligated to meet their responsibilities and ensure wages are paid. It is the same in any business.

2. Drivers are paid way way way too much - this is the same in many sports and is the reason many professional teams are struggling to survive, it is up to the teams as a whole to set the wage structure in such a way to allow them to continue in the sport. i.e. if all top teams offer a similar wage to drivers all teams could survive, it becomes a problem when one or two mega-rich teams offer stupid amounts for a driver. It is not all about greed from the drivers point of view, it is about ego. By this I mean that if driver 1 considers himself to be superior to driver two, he will demand more money than driver two is being paid. Then along comes driver 3 who thinks he is better than driver one, so he wants more money than driver 1, but then driver two is better than driver 2 so he wants more, so driver one wants more and so on......

[Nem14]

2. Drivers are paid way way way too much - .

I find your logic seriously flawed.
We won't even consider the considerable risk of serious injury or death F1 drivers are exposed to at every testing, practice, and race session. While F! cars are designed with driver safety in mind that does not mean all risk has been eliminated.
A driver can still lose all earning potential in the blink of an eye.

Drivers have sponsor and team advertising and promotional obligations they have to meet and like an actor should expect to be paid for that work.

There is also the issue of the time an effort drivers must invest to stay in tip-top physical and mental condition.

Unlike most stick and ball sports, racing car drivers have to deal with physical demands for much longer periods of time between rests.

Then there are the technical knowledge aspects (car and driving) a top driver will have learned over the course of the drivers rise up through the ranks to the highest level of the sport.

Consider too that not all drivers get paid the same. Indeed most F1 drivers get paid a small fraction of what the top drivers are paid by the teams.

[Big Ben]

oh boy... now I won't be able to focus on my work because I'm concerned... global warming, famine in Africa... and now this... Kimi didn't get his millions yet! I can't take it anymore (

[henners88]

Maybe its time for the teams to consider paying the drivers less? Some of the big names are paid silly amounts of money so its an ideal opportunity to halve wages IMO.