Lewis Hamilton issues ‘work with us’ plea to FIA over F1 changes

Lewis Hamilton has urged the FIA to "work together" with the drivers to improve Formula 1, and give those behind the wheel a seat at the table when deciding on changes.

The 2026 F1 season has already seen numerous 'tweaks' made to the regulations, following on from fan and driver criticisms of the action from the first three rounds. 

These changes were introduced for the Miami Grand Prix, and were met with high praise from some, while others viewed them as only a first step.

Currently, the drivers are on the outside of discussions on future changes, although the FIA did acknowledge the "invaluable input from F1 drivers" when announcing changes to the power units for 2027 last week.

However, highlighting the fact that drivers had no direct involvement, this was followed by a statement which read: "The 2026 regulations were developed and agreed in close partnership between the FIA, FOM, teams, OEMs and Power Unit Manufacturers."

Speaking ahead of the Miami weekend, Hamilton said: “All the drivers, we do work together, but the fact is that we don’t have a seat at the table. We do engage with the FIA and Formula 1. 

"Formula 1 is more often a little bit more responsive, but being that we’re not stakeholders, we don’t have a seat at the table currently, which I think needs to change."

Using the much criticised Pirelli tyres as an example of how the drivers could directly contribute to improving things, Hamilton added: “I was doing the Pirelli test, and I said to ‘You guys should come and speak to us, collaborate with us. We don’t want to be slagging off the Pirelli tyres, we know you can build a good product.’ 

"But their feedback will be coming from people who have never driven a car before, so we’re like, ‘Speak to us, we can work together. We can go hand in hand to approach the FIA so we can get a better product’. 

"And it’s the same to F1. We’re here to work with them, and we don’t want to be slating our sport. We want the sport to succeed, so we need to be working together more.”