Superlicence cost increase confirmed

Lewis Hamilton will have to pay 228,000 euros ($335,700) for his licence to race in Formula One this year after forking out just 1,725 in his 2007 rookie season.

Only Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, the Finn who beat the McLaren driver to the title by a single point in the final race, will pay more.

Mosley confirmed on Monday that the governing body had decided to make Formula One superlicences far more expensive than in the past.

"We spend a fortune on safety and most of it is for the benefit of the drivers," Mosley told reporters at a lunch.

"A lot of the people who have otherwise been meeting the bill said 'Hang on a minute, these drivers are all earning megabucks and we are spending a fortune to try and make sure they are safe.'

"So hence the increase."

The FIA said the mandatory superlicence, which cost a basic fee of 1,725 euros last year with 456 added on for each point scored in the previous year's championship, would go up to 10,000 euros with 2,000 extra per point scored.

Mosley said some drivers had written to him pointing out that they, and not the teams, paid for their licences. His response was that he had never imagined anyone else had picked up the tab.

"The thing is, if someone is earning 30 million or whatever some of them earn, it's not so bad," he said. "If you are down the back end, if you haven't got a point, it's 10,000 euros.

"To people earning their kind of money, it's not a drama. I'd settle for that, if someone said you can have 20 million if you pay 250,000 for a licence."

Mosley said the extra money raised would go "into the FIA coffers" but the governing body would also be spending far more on safety than in the past.