There’s been a bit of chat this week about a driver’s strike in Formula 1 - something that hasn’t happened since 1982 when the drivers got together, locked themselves in a bus and decided they weren’t going to race because of proposed clauses in the driver licensing system.  The license system is once more the source of the controversy but this time it’s strictly about money.

The driver’s are facing a 600% increase in the license fee, unilaterally imposed by the FIA.  The driver’s say they have on two occasions attempted to initiate a dialog that might result in a compromise. The FIA has refused to talk but the governing body insists they have not received a firm date from the drivers.  With the process going nowhere, idle chatter has turned to a potential driver’s strike at the British Grand Prix

However, does the Grand Prix Driver’s Association actually have the right to strike?  The short answer is no, but the legal reality is more complicated.

Generally, the right to strike is only available to trade unions.  Professional associations are not labour unions, they are more like special interest groups.  In the case of the GPDA, their primary interest is in safety and in lobbying the FIA to insure cars and tracks meet safety standards and that adequate medical response exists at all venues.  Unlike a union, the GPDA does not negotiate driver contracts, terms of employment or represent the driver in a grievance process with an employer.

Based on this explanation, the GPDA has no legal right to strike because it is not, by definition or actions, a trade union.

If the drivers refuse to race in protest of the licensing fees (as opposed to a safety issue) then they could be terminated by their employers for breach of contract.  Fortunately for the drivers, Formula 1 is a performance based business and the fastest pilots are always in demand. The overpaid or over hyped might find themselves on extended holidays.

The more complicated reality is that the FIA has the ability to act unilaterally with respect to licenses and rules. This situation is not really proving all that helpful to the sport.  The current unrest (this time by the drivers) is yet another sign that the system needs to be changed so that all parties have a say in the governance of the sport.

Sadly, autocratic institutions and their leaders rarely compromise without threats and unrest.  The history of unions is full of such people.

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Descending from Scottish heritage I can tell you that laying out hundreds of dollars for a ticket to an F1 race causes my heart to ache. I take some consolation though when a race is as exciting as the 2007 Montreal Grand Prix but decidedly not from a race like the catastrophe that was the 2005 USGP.

But, imagine yourself having to shell out nearly a quarter million euro to get through the gates. That’s exactly what Kimi Raikkonen will have to pay this year to race in F1. Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso will be paying nearly as much. Its all because of the new costs for an FIA issued super-license.

For the privilege of racing in the upcoming season, drivers will have to pay a flat fee of €10,000 plus an additional 2000€ for each point they scored during the 2007 season. The previous rates were €1690 plus another €447 for each point earned the previous year. For Raikkonen, that works out to €230,000 in super-license fees for 2008 while under the old licensing model, Kimi would only have had to pay €50,860. For the entire grid to license itself this season (22 drivers including 3 rookies) the total will be €1, 504,000. Quite the cash cow for the FIA.

The speculation behind this raise in fees is that it will help deter unqualified drivers from obtaining a super-license. I think that the FIA could prevent unqualified drivers from obtaining a super-license by just saying “No” to the applicant. In 2001, the FIA did this in the case of then rookie, Kimi Raikkonen whom they considered to be too inexperienced to race in F1. They ended up only issuing him a probationary license.

Even if they looked rather stupid after the fact in the case of Raikkonen - he scored a point in his debut, the FIA still stepped in as the regulator of the sport and evaluated the driver regardless of whether or not the fee had been paid. Could they not carry out the same process with any driver who applied to race in Formula 1?

Instead of consistently enforcing rules that would only allow the qualified onto the grid, the FIA has happily allowed the likes of Gaston Mazzacane, Alex Yoong and Yuji Ide into the exclusive ranks of Formula 1 drivers. Pay drivers like these three typically bring millions of dollars into a backmarker F1 team each year through their personal sponsorship deals with companies. Raising licensing fees, even as drastically as the governing body have done for 2008 will not keep pay drivers out of F1, it only insures a bigger slice of the pie for the FIA.

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