F1 Drivers Facing Major Salary Cuts

F1 drivers are likely to be asked to take substantial pay cuts as the sport looks to ease the financial pressures on its teams.

Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali, whose driver Kimi Raikkonen’s salary is the highest in F1 at £35m, said teams had to make savings in all areas.

He stated: ‘When teams must significantly reduce costs, one could say you need an ace to make the difference.

‘But I feel in the current climate the big teams won’t be able any more to offer the amounts some drivers get.’

Domenicali, who was talking in an interview with the Italian magazine Autosprint, said he expected salaries within F1 to undergo ‘a major revolution’ in the next few months.

Raikkonen, the 2007 world champion, has by far the biggest salary in the sport, but there are a number of other leading F1 drivers earning salaries of more than £10m – such as Renault’s double world champion Fernando Alonso and this year’s title winner Lewis Hamilton of McLaren.

A select few leading engineers in the sport – such as Red Bull’s chief technical officer Adrian Newey – also earn salaries of several million a year.

Domenicali’s comments follow those made by fellow team boss Frank Williams, who said last week that he was in favour of a driver salary cap.

‘We’ve raised this issue several times and will take the opportunity to do so again,’ commented Williams.

‘We’d also strongly support a budget cap, introduced gradually, if it could be properly policed.’