Lewis Hamilton calls for drivers to have formal role in F1 rule decisions

Lewis Hamilton says drivers need a ‘seat at the table’

Lewis Hamilton has urged  Formula 1 to give drivers a formal role in shaping future rule changes, amid growing frustration over the 2026 regulations.

Formula 1’s new era with its 50/50 split between combustion and electrical power has been heavily criticised by the drivers, with  Max Verstappen the most vocal.

Lewis Hamilton urges driver role in F1 regulations

The Red Bull driver called the new regulations “anti-racing” as early as pre-season testing, while rivals joined the chorus when racing began at the Australian Grand Prix.

From “Mario Kart” with its “mushroom boost” to “artificial”, the discontent grew with each passing race.

The FIA sat down with FOM, the team principals and the power unit manufacturers during the April break to discuss a way forward and agreed on several changes that the drivers hope will lessen the need for battery harvesting and super clipping.

That meeting, though, only took place after the FIA eventually spoke with the drivers to hear their thoughts and proposals about the F1 2026 regulations.

Hamilton says the drivers need to have a voice that’s heard in any future decisions about the sport’s regulations.

“All the drivers, we do work together, we all meet – but the fact is we don’t have a seat at the table,” Hamilton told PlanetF1.com and other media in Miami. “We do engage with the FIA and F1; F1’s 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. I say to them, when I was doing the Pirelli [tyre] test, ‘You guys should come and speak to us and 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. Speak to us, we’ll work hand in hand, we can work together to approach the FIA so we can get a better product.

“And the same with F1. ‘We’re here to work with you. We don’t want to be slating our sport. We want the sport to succeed, and so we need to be working together.’

“But it’s like a [broken] record – you keep doing it, and it’s like small baby steps each time. But I have no doubt [we are aligned].”

Four-time world champion Verstappen echoed Hamilton’s sentiment.

“I hope more and more,” he said when asked if the drivers should be consulted. “I’m sure that we can have really good input about that. I think if we would have had that five, maybe a bit before, like five, six years ago, then we probably wouldn’t have been in the state that we are in now.”

Meanwhile, Grand Prix Drivers Association director George Russell says he believes the FIA and Formula 1 will listen to the drivers more before making decisions in the future.

“I think there’s been some really good conversations, to be honest, with the FIA and a number of drivers, and I think they have listened to the concerns,” he said. “It’s definitely the most collaborative they’ve sort of ever been in this regard, which is positive.

“I think we concluded that they want to include us more when it comes to future regulations as well because I think we kind of suggested that we could maybe foresee some of these issues before they actually came to fruition. And if we were involved in the process, we could have helped it, for everybody’s sake. So that’s been positive.”