Lewis Hamilton backed up by Lando Norris as F1 drivers left 'blindsided'
McLaren star Lando Norris has supported Lewis Hamilton's desire for drivers to have a greater say in Formula 1 when the sport makes regulation changes
Lando Norris has backed the call of Lewis Hamilton for Formula 1 drivers to have a greater say in the direction of the sport. The seven-time world champion wants the grid to have a seat at the table when decisions over regulations and the equipment they use arise.
Norris believes that his colleagues are 'blindsided' by business concerns and with more inclusion, there could be greater understanding over the direction of the sport. The reigning world champion wants to see F1 improve for its fans.
Last month saw the FIA meet with F1's teams to adjust this season's controversial new technical regulations ahead of the Miami Grand Prix. The drivers were involved in talks but had no formal voting rights on what would transpire.
"All the drivers we do work together, we all meet, but the fact is we don’t have a seat at the table," Hamilton said recently. "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 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, and we can work together to approach the FIA so we can get a better product.
"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 will be aligned]."
Norris certainly seems to be in agreement with his racing rival. The Brit explained that drivers have some simple expectations.
“From first place to last place, we all want the same thing,” Norris said. “We all just want to go flat out, race closely and at the same time, that's the show that the fans want.
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“Having a seat at the table, it's something we've spoken about as the GPDA. We're all very aligned with that.
“Sometimes I think we have to accept, as drivers, we're very blindsided to the externals from a business side of things, how teams work, how all of that is organised.
“We have to accept that we're maybe not always completely correct, but I think the majority of things that we think of as drivers and what we want for the sport is a win-win. It's better for us and it's better for the fans, and that's our side of things.
“It's just how some of those things are done and not always able to be easily implemented, because of how the sport is as a whole, the money and the cost of things and all that, regulations, rules.
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