Max vs the GPDA
December 21st 2006 01:00
In a recent edition of F1Racing magazine, FIA president Max Mosley told the Grand Prix Driver’s Association (GPDA) to leave issues such as safety “to the experts.”
This comes after a new GPDA board was elected, with Ralf Schumacher taking over his brother Michael as chairman, and Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso replacing Jarno Trulli and David Coulthard as directors.
With the changing of the guard, many speculate that the GPDA will involve itself more heavily in the sports political matters, as opposed to sticking to its original function to maximise safety. The inherent power of a unified driver’s faction is enough to worry the FIA President it seems, asserting that “the governing body has to take responsibility and no driver should undermine its authority."
Mosley’s comments are interesting, as he is basically saying that the cars and safety are too complex for the drivers to understand.
Mosely has been known to disapprove of the GPDA before, especially when the issue of safety became a political issue (US GP 2005), but with Michael Schumacher at the helm, he had a figure who he knew would not become politically acute. Now with Ralf, Max faces a relatively unknown opponent. Unknown in the sense that Ralf hitherto has been quiet on political matters in F1, but as chairman, and with the ever frank Mark Webber, and FIA-scorned champion, Fernando Alonso by his flanks, Ralf may well stand up to political matters.
It will be interesting to see the GPDA’s reaction to Max’s comments. Considering that the drivers are the ones who risk their lives by actually driving the cars, and are the only ones who can truly understand the feel of a car – to be told that their opinion on safety is useless will not go down well with most, if not all of the drivers.
By telling drivers to stay out of things that (according to Max) they don’t understand, the FIA may well just bait the GPDA into biting. Remembering back to the Kyalami strike of 1982 and the furore surrounding the US GP in 2005, where Michelin runners withdrew, the GPDA can exercise tremendous power.
Max should probably think twice before undermining the drivers’ intelligence.
This comes after a new GPDA board was elected, with Ralf Schumacher taking over his brother Michael as chairman, and Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso replacing Jarno Trulli and David Coulthard as directors.
With the changing of the guard, many speculate that the GPDA will involve itself more heavily in the sports political matters, as opposed to sticking to its original function to maximise safety. The inherent power of a unified driver’s faction is enough to worry the FIA President it seems, asserting that “the governing body has to take responsibility and no driver should undermine its authority."
Mosley’s comments are interesting, as he is basically saying that the cars and safety are too complex for the drivers to understand.
Mosely has been known to disapprove of the GPDA before, especially when the issue of safety became a political issue (US GP 2005), but with Michael Schumacher at the helm, he had a figure who he knew would not become politically acute. Now with Ralf, Max faces a relatively unknown opponent. Unknown in the sense that Ralf hitherto has been quiet on political matters in F1, but as chairman, and with the ever frank Mark Webber, and FIA-scorned champion, Fernando Alonso by his flanks, Ralf may well stand up to political matters.
It will be interesting to see the GPDA’s reaction to Max’s comments. Considering that the drivers are the ones who risk their lives by actually driving the cars, and are the only ones who can truly understand the feel of a car – to be told that their opinion on safety is useless will not go down well with most, if not all of the drivers.
By telling drivers to stay out of things that (according to Max) they don’t understand, the FIA may well just bait the GPDA into biting. Remembering back to the Kyalami strike of 1982 and the furore surrounding the US GP in 2005, where Michelin runners withdrew, the GPDA can exercise tremendous power.
Max should probably think twice before undermining the drivers’ intelligence.
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