Glock: Licence fees not fair for all
Timo Glock has said that high superlicence fees cannot be fair for all drivers, because not every racer earns multi-million pound pay packets
F1 drivers are unhappy about a dramatic increase in the cost of their mandatory superlicences, which have rocketed from 1,690 Euros in 2007 to 10,400 Euros for this year, plus a points fee that has jumped from 447 Euros per point in 2007 to 2,100 Euros per point for this year.
And although the drivers' complaints have led some to accuse them of being removed from the real life difficulties faced by thousands who could lose their jobs amid the worldwide recession, Glock believes it wrong to suggest that F1's racers are quibbling over a tiny percentage of their earnings.
"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."
Glock said he was not one of the three unidentified drivers whose licences had been paid and submitted to the FIA by their teams, but hoped the matter could be resolved soon.
"I will sort it out in the next couple of days," he said. "In the end to race in F1 we have to have one, and let's wait and see."
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