Racing
© Ragnar Beaverson
Lewis Hamilton says Formula 1 drivers still “don't have a seat at the table” on major regulatory decisions, despite the sport moving to revise its heavily criticized future engine rules ahead of the Miami Grand Prix.
The latest changes came after sustained backlash to the next-generation power-unit direction, including criticism from drivers and fans and most notably from Max Verstappen. Last week, F1 bosses agreed to changes for 2027 by moving away from the current near 50-50 power split, increasing internal-combustion output as part of the adjustment.
For Hamilton, the rule tweak only sharpened a wider frustration over who actually shapes the sport’s future. Speaking in Miami, the seven-time world champion and Mercedes driver said: “All the drivers, we do work together, we all meet - but the fact is we don't have a seat at the table.” He added: “But being that we're not stakeholders - we don't have a seat at the table currently, which I think needs to change.”
Hamilton argued that the FIA and F1 should use drivers more directly when making technical decisions, pointing to the wider process rather than only the engine debate. “You guys should come and speak to us and collaborate with us, we don't want to be slagging off the Pirelli tires, we know you can build a good product,” he said. He added that too much feedback still comes from “people who have never driven a car before” and urged the governing bodies to “work hand in hand” with the drivers to produce a better product.
He said F1 has generally been more responsive than the FIA, but described progress as slow. “We do engage with the FIA and F1; F1's more often a little bit more responsive,” Hamilton said. “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.”
That view was not shared uniformly in the paddock. Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur rejected the idea that drivers had been frozen out, saying they were “not excluded at all” from key decisions on the future of F1. Referring specifically to the recent engine discussion, Vasseur said the drivers had been “part of the discussion on the modification of the engine the last couple of weeks” and insisted they would continue to be involved, even if reaching a compromise was not always straightforward.
Williams team principal James Vowles backed that up with a more specific example, saying Carlos Sainz had been consulted before the regulation change. Vowles said FIA single-seater director Nikolas Tombazis “did a good job by bringing him on board, asking the questions before we went through this regulation change to make sure he and others were part of that process.”
Even so, Vowles' answer also underlined the governance problem Hamilton was pointing to. He said F1 is already crowded with decision-makers and warned against allowing “certain agendas” to be pushed through the rules process. Rather than simply adding more people to meetings, he said a more formal system may be the better route, including a driver representative in or ahead of FIA meetings and a form process “making sure the drivers can fill in their views on certain aspects of things.”
That leaves F1 with a dispute that goes beyond one engine-rule rewrite. The sport has acknowledged enough concern to alter its future power-unit direction, but the argument over whether drivers are truly represented now sits alongside the regulations themselves, with future rule changes likely to face the same scrutiny unless that process becomes clearer and more formal.