Lewis Hamilton urges FIA to improve communication: “We don’t want to control things”

Lewis Hamilton has called on the FIA and its president, Mohammed Ben Sulayem, to improve communication with the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association.

At the end of last year, the GPDA - which represents the current crop of F1 drivers - took aim at Ben Sulayem.

This followed Max Verstappen being punished for swearing during an FIA press conference.

The GPDA called for Ben Sulayem to “consider his tone and language.”

They also requested that the FIA disclose where fines paid by drivers are spent, to improve transparency and openness.

It appears the GPDA is still no closer to having direct contact with Ben Sulayem or the FIA.

In the World Rally Championship, drivers boycotted media interviews after Hyundai WRC driver Adrien Fourmaux was penalised for swearing.

In a recent Instagram post, Ben Sulayem hinted that there would be changes to the FIA’s rules around swearing following the WRC situation.

Speaking in the FIA press conference on Thursday for the Miami Grand Prix, Hamilton called for greater collaboration with F1’s governing body.

“I think ultimately the GPDA is very unified,” Hamilton said. “I think ultimately we want to work closely with the FIA. All of us want to make the sport continue to work together and make the sport better. Of course, we’ve faced a bit of an uphill challenge in that communication over time.

“Ultimately, we don’t hold a power seat at the table and that needs to change in my opinion. If you look at other sports that have unions that may be something that comes into play at some stage. As I said, we don’t want to control things, we want to collaborate with them more and have our voices heard.

“People making decisions for others that have never been in that position, it’s good to have a point of view from the driver’s perspective. That’s all we try to give.” 

Russell, who is head of the GPDA, feels the focus has been on too many issues away from the track, such as swearing.

“I feel like it’s unprecedented times that we’ve been in the last 18 months with what’s been changing, what’s happening,” Russell explained.

“I think when the GPDA was founded years ago it wasn’t really to talk about politics. It was to talk about safety, improvements of the sport, improvement of the racing. Especially myself. I find myself talking about topics that I didn’t really have any intention of talking about but we find ourselves in a time where we’re not focused on the things why we’re all here.

“We’re here to go racing. We’re here to create the best show for the fans, to have the fastest cars, the safest cars. The best technology, the best engineering but yet we talk about fines and punishment, swearing.

“Maybe something should change. We’re open to it but we just ultimately want the best for the sport.”