Strike never considered, says de la Rosa

The paddock at Magny-Cours was awash with speculation about a possible strike by drivers at Silverstone next month in protest over the hike in superlicence fees by the FIA this year.

A number of drivers said such militant action was unlikely to succeed anyway, but now de la Rosa has revealed that the GPDA never considered the idea of a strike in the first place.

Speaking to autosport.com after talks in the Magny-Cours paddock between the GPDA and the FIA in their regular meeting on Friday evening, de la Rosa said that the situation had been blown out of all proportion.

"We are quite surprised by all the news about being on strike and this sort of thing, because this is something that has not come from any driver," said de la Rosa.

"We have never discussed going on strike. It is just an ongoing issue with the superlicence fee that we are talking with the FIA about, and that is about it."

De la Rosa said that the matter would be dealt with behind closed doors between the GPDA and the FIA, with the governing body's president Max Mosley recently stating that he was happy to meet drivers to discuss the situation.

When asked what the next steps were for the GPDA, de la Rosa said: "First we need to sit down and discuss it with them you know. I would rather not say any more, because I think we have to discuss it with the FIA directly.

"It is just a private thing between the drivers and them. But for sure we haven't talked about a strike. In all the meetings that I have been in, in the GPDA we haven't discussed that at all."