PlanetF1

Kaltenborn sticks up for pay drivers

Wednesday 13-February-2013 08:03

Sauber team principal Monisha Kaltenborn has come to the defence of F1's so-called "pay drivers", saying some of the criticism is unfair.

McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh has brought the issue back into the spotlight by claiming it is "hurting" the sport as many of the drivers would not make it in the sport if they didn't have the financial backing.

Timo Glock has also hit out in recent weeks after he was dropped by Marussia for "commercial reasons" with the team opting to replace him with rookie Luiz Razia.

However, Kaltenborn points out that a lot of the stars in Formula One also started their careers with sponsors and warns that the increase in costs is one of the main reasons why smaller teams need money from their drivers.

"All these discussions about 'pay drivers' have lost ground a bit for me," she told the official Formula One website.

"What we see is that many partners or sponsors support drivers from the very beginning. A good example is Sergio (Perez). He has been part of the Escuderia Telmex, which is a racing school. They have been supporting him from the very beginning and it is natural that when he enters the pinnacle of motorsports, they come along.

"You have so many top drivers out there who have also brought along their partners who have supported them right from the beginning. You don't talk about pay drivers in lower series because it is normal that a driver has partners that support him.

"So why not use the same standard in Formula One? Then you wouldn't have all these pay driver discussions.

"Sure, it would be good for Formula One to look more closely at the costs. We have to do something. Over the years we see that the economic climate is also getting to us. And not just to the smaller teams, but the whole sport. In this environment we cannot expect to always have a high level of income from the commercial rights holder. We really have to find a way to react to this."