Alonso baffled by non-GPDA drivers
Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso says he is totally baffled about the lack of interest several leading drivers are showing in the Grand Prix Drivers' Association (GPDA)
Against the backdrop of Heikki Kovalainen's lucky escape from his Spanish Grand Prix crash, Alonso has questioned why leading drivers like Lewis Hamilton, Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa are not interested in improving safety.
"It is true there are drivers not in the GPDA, which is their own decision, but in my opinion it is not good," said Alonso, when asked by autosport.com about the situation regarding GPDA.
"As I have said another time, everyone can choose what they want - but it is difficult to understand how drivers don't want to be involved in an association of drivers that want to save our lives when we are racing.
"The accident that Kovalainen had last week, we will work on it with the FIA very closely, we will make some proposals and at the end we will find a solution. And these type of accidents will not be repeated.
"So drivers who don't want to be involved with that, it makes no sense."
Jarno Trulli expressed his concerns earlier this week about a number of drivers not contributing to the GPDA - especially as they benefit from the improvements to safety.
"I'm not saying they should get involved, I'm saying as a grand prix driver you should be sensible about safety because you are driving," said Trulli.
"It's you getting in the car and going fast so the GPDA is only there not to do any politics. Any time we sit in a room, we discuss privately anything which we have in common - which is racing and safety.
"Apparently, there are some people who do not care about it - but they get the benefit anyway. And what is really concerning me and all the GPDA drivers is at the moment more and more drivers are pulling out of GPDA for no particular reason. But they are getting the benefit of all the work we are still doing.
"But the GPDA has a minimum cost which is paid by every driver by the points you score during the season. And obviously, missing some of the top drivers is missing a lot of the amount. Which is really, really little - even for a medium driver. It's a very little amount you pay to sustain the expenses of the GPDA.
"And when we are missing these top drivers we are in a situation where we must somehow find the way to raise some funds for ourselves and run the GPDA and run the safety push for the benefit of 100 per cent of the drivers on the track."
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