Cost cuts could hit drivers' wages

With the FIA and the teams having worked hard in recent weeks to thrash out a major overhaul of the technical rules to help reduce budgets, there are widespread hopes that the sport can see itself through the difficult financial times.

But Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali thinks such cost savings are only the start of a spending clampdown that teams are going to have to go through - and he believes drivers will be the next target.

"I think that in the following months there will be a major revolution, also with the drivers, as far as retainers are concerned," Domenicali said in an interview with Italian magazine Autosprint.

Domenicali believes that the momentum for such a drastic course of action - which could go as far as current terms having to be renegotiated - will come from the bigger teams.

"Let's be clear: at a moment when the teams, whether big or small, must reduce costs in a significant way, one could feel like saying you need an ace to make the difference," he explained.

"However, I feel that in the current climate the big teams - the small ones can't do that now - won't have the ability anymore to think of offering certain amounts of money that some drivers get. So discussions can be held on this issue."

When asked whether terms of contracts that were recently signed, such as Kimi Raikkonen's fresh deal announced in Monza, could be changed, Domenicali said: "Anything can be modified in life.

"The important thing is wanting to do it. We know the terms of the contract. However, I'm convinced that this issue will soon be discussed among all the teams and with every driver."