Jenson Button, new director of the GPDA with Vettel and De la Rosa

Representing the interests of drivers, particularly with the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile, the GPDA has designated its board of directors for the 2013 season. Following a vote held in Sepang on Friday during a meeting of the Grand Prix Drivers Association, Sebastian Vettel, Pedro de la Rosa, and Jenson Button were elected by their peers as directors.

Confirmed in his role as President of the GPDA, Pedro de la Rosa is pleased to see Jenson Button join the Association’s leadership alongside Sebastian Vettel, who has extended his mandate: « It’s good for the GPDA that we have two world champions as directors, » the Spaniard tells Autosport.

The 2009 world champion is indeed replacing Felipe Massa, and the recruitment of Pedro de la Rosa at Ferrari does not seem unrelated, as otherwise there would have been two Scuderia drivers within the GPDA. As it stands, the top three teams from the last three championships are thus represented at the head of the Drivers’ Association, which took advantage of the meeting organized this weekend to discuss again the costs of the Super License and the issue of the amount of fines.

Indeed, to facilitate an overhaul of the calculation scale for the Super License fee, the FIA reportedly committed, according to Autosport, to no longer financially penalize drivers for their infractions. However, in Melbourne, several drivers were fined by the FIA for speeding in the pit lane.

Among them, Nico Hülkenberg (Sauber) stated this week that the drivers were expecting clarifications from the governing bodies: « With the GPDA, we are currently trying to understand where we stand on this matter. It’s a bit lacking in clarity at the moment. » However, according to Autosport, the FIA would have only made commitments regarding financial penalties imposed at discretion and not in response to regulatory provisions, which is the case for speeding in the pit lane.

Indeed, Article 30.12 of the sporting regulations clearly stipulates that « outside the race, any driver exceeding the speed limit in the pit lane will be penalized 200€ per km/h exceeded ». Nico Hülkenberg acknowledges, however, that finding the right balance for the penalty remains very difficult. Instead of a fine, drivers could incur an official reprimand, a sanction he considers, in this case, too severe, deeming the error legitimate due to the difference in the permitted speed in the pit lane between free practice – 60 km/h – and the rest of the weekend – 100 km/h: « We really need to think about an alternative [to fines]. A reprimand for speeding is not a good penalty. You don’t exceed the speed intentionally, it’s easy to go one or two km/h too fast during Free Practice. It’s happened to everyone, so a reprimand is definitely not the right solution. »

Indeed, under Article 18.2 of the Formula 1 sporting regulations, « any driver who receives three reprimands during the same championship will incur, at the time of the third warning, a ten-place grid penalty ».