Will the drivers take a pay cut

[ArrowsFA1]

Ok, I know it's NASCAR's Jeff Gordon talking so not F1 news, but would/will we hear something similar from any F1 drivers?


Four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Jeff Gordon says he would take a pay cut to help his Hendrick Motorsport survive the current financial crisis.

Gordon says it's 'ridiculous' how much money some drivers have been able to make in recent years and believes they should be the first to cut back in hard times.

"I never dreamed in a million years I was going to make this kind of money," he said. "This is ridiculous, it's stupid what we spend on motorhomes and planes and all this.

"Do we need that? No. But things have been good for us, the sport's been good. I'm living this way because things have been very good. Now, obviously, we're having to cut back, and I have to cut back, too."
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/72421

[Knock-on]

Things have got a bit silly with some drivers being paid nearly the equivalent of a small team.

[Ranger]

Ok, I know it's NASCAR's Jeff Gordon talking so not F1 news, but would/will we hear something similar from any F1 drivers?


http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/72421

Probably not, for more reasons other than greed and opportunism.

Jeff Gordon partly owns his own team so he can pay himself as much as he wants, bypassing contracts and the lawyers and managers that come into it. Hence he doesn't have to go out of his way to get paid less.

If any F1 driver earned $24 million a year and got no race wins from 41 attempts like Jeff Gordon did this year (despite his lesser-paid teammate winning 8 races and the title), you'd hope they'd feel they should take a pay cut regardless of the economic crisis.

[Roamy]

the drivers will all take a cut if necessary. Or where else is one going to drive??

[Valve Bounce]

Let's look at it this way: either bunsen stays out of F1 for the next three years and collects his Honda pension, or he departs Honda, takes a pay cut and secures a drive in another team. Depends whether he wants to spend the next three years on his yacht, or race in F1.

[Mark]

Well most drivers aren't on anything more than a 2 year contract, so when it comes to renewal time the team will decide how much they can afford to pay, as happens every year.

[Knock-on]

Well most drivers aren't on anything more than a 2 year contract, so when it comes to renewal time the team will decide how much they can afford to pay, as happens every year.


Think Button has just signed a 3 year £24M one that Honda will have to underwrite.

[Mark]

Think Button has just signed a 3 year £24M one that Honda will have to underwrite.

Yep, if he has a contract they will need to pay him. But of course the contract would stop him from driving for another team, and I don't think Button is the type to sit around and collect the money.

However £24M is small fry when you consider the yearly team budget was probably more like £300M

[leopard]

Alonso has a year renewal contract, it seems that Renault pays him for relative constant amount or whatever a number the most compromise number for both parties Alonso has pointed out.

[Dzeidzei]

of this whole mess is George Bush. If only he managed to get Saddam killed, his son wouldnt have to be spending all that money
see: http://www.nationalpriorities.org/costofwar_home
in Iraq. If only that money would have been spend with even the slightest good idea, none of this would have happened.

On another note, drivers pay checks are always relative. Im sure no one would pay me 24 M£ for cruising 3 years in a Honda.

I would never pay Button that kind of money. But its not the one who asks that is stupid.

[Big Ben]

of this whole mess is George Bush. If only he managed to get Saddam killed, his son wouldnt have to be spending all that money
see: http://www.nationalpriorities.org/costofwar_home
in Iraq. If only that money would have been spend with even the slightest good idea, none of this would have happened.


wow man! Finance and global economics described so well... You're so deep. I wonder who would people blame from now on for everything that doesn't go well in this small world of ours.... well, not right now but 5 or 6 years from now... It's safe to assume that by then we should put all the miseries on someone else's shoulders.

[Roamy]

Let's look at it this way: either bunsen stays out of F1 for the next three years and collects his Honda pension, or he departs Honda, takes a pay cut and secures a drive in another team. Depends whether he wants to spend the next three years on his yacht, or race in F1.

well based on the state of F1 I would go to the yacht

[leopard]

You meant F1boat?

[jens]

Jeff Gordon partly owns his own team so he can pay himself as much as he wants, bypassing contracts and the lawyers and managers that come into it. Hence he doesn't have to go out of his way to get paid less.


Good point. I doubt any driver would "voluntarily" take a paycut.

[ArrowsFA1]

Formula One drivers will be the next to suffer the consequences of the worldwide economic downturn by being forced to accept reduced wages, claims Ferrari's team boss.

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.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/72515

[markabilly]

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



Well, if you believe John M Keynes and the usual collection of so-called economic experts, when times are tough, more spending is what is necessary, NOT LESS, by everyone to pull the economy out of recession......

[Easy Drifter]

Bobby (BOOBY) Rae, then NDP Premier of Ont. tried that in the last recession. He came close to bankrupting the Province, hurt the credit rating big time, left a huge deficit and got turfed out of office in the next election.
He then became a Federal Liberal party member and ran for party leadership and lost.
The Ont. NDP have never recovered and are the 3rd party.

[AJP]

http://sportal.com.au/motorsport-news-display/massa-against-wage-cut-62524

Slight contradiction here by Massa...

"The more people work to reduce costs, the better it is going to be for everybody."

If he is supporting cost cutting in F1 , then surely drivers wages should be reduced.

Some are getting paid way too much money.

We are in a major economic downturn at the moment, Yet still people are getting paid too much money. Half the reason why we are all in this downturn to begin with.

I don't care what anyone says, earning that sort of money, no matter who you are, is utterly ridiculous and completely unrealistic.