Lewis Hamilton believes F1’s Grand Prix Drivers Association [GPDA] should have a seat at the table when the FIA and Formula 1 discuss decisions that impact the drivers.

Formula 1’s regulations are, from the technical to the sporting, decided by the FIA, motorsport’s governing body, and Formula 1 chiefs.

Lewis Hamilton: Ultimately, we don’t hold a power seat at the table

While the drivers may be consulted, their opinions don’t carry any weight when all is said and done.

It’s led to several clashes between the drivers and the FIA in recent years, starting with the jewellery ban and underwear checks, to the more recent clampdown on swearing.

Last year FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem urged the drivers to watch their language, stating the Formula 1 drivers needed to be role models.

More on the FIA and F1’s governance

👉 FIA explained: What does it stand for and how does it govern F1?

👉 Explained: How the FIA develops potential new F1 rules and regulations

Months later, though, he took the draconian steps of revising ‘Appendix B’ in the International Sporting Code (ISC) to introduce set guidelines to help stewards determine penalties for rule breaches and allow for significant sanctions ranging from hefty financial fines to race bans to championship points deductions.

That list included any acts of ‘misconduct’, of which swearing fell under that, as well as causing ‘moral injury or loss to the FIA, its bodies, its members or its executive officers’.

Drivers were effectively silenced from sharing their thoughts.

Following protests from the World Rally Championship drivers and short sentences from those in Formula 1, Max Verstappen refusing to speak about his Saudi Arabian GP penalty, Ben Sulayem has hinted he could backtrack on it all.

“Following constructive feedback from drivers across our seven FIA World Championships, I am considering making improvements to Appendix B,” the FIA president wrote on Instagram.

“As a former rally driver, I understand the demands they face better than most.

“Appendix B is a key part of the International Sporting Code and is central in helping keep the sport accessible for all our sporting family.

“Humans make the rules and humans can improve the rules.

“This principle of continuous improvement is something I have always believed in and is at the heart of all we do at the FIA.”

Hamilton believes the situation could’ve been avoided had the GPDA been given a voice at the table.

According to the seven-time F1 World Champion, the drivers have faced an “uphill challenge” getting their viewpoints across to the powers-that-be.

“Ultimately, the GPDA is very unified,” he told the media, including PlanetF1.com in Miami. “We are working to ultimately be able to work closely with the FIA.

“All of us want to make the sport 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. We don’t want to control things. We just want to collaborate with them and have our voices heard.

“People are making decisions for others that have never been in that position so it is good to have the point of view from the drivers’ perspective.”

Read next: FIA make latest F1 rule change after Verstappen v Bearman incident