Lewis Hamilton: F1 drivers “have no voting rights” as FIA “only listening to teams”

Lewis Hamilton says Formula 1 drivers “have no voting rights” on any rule changes, as Carlos Sainz says current problems are what happen “when you only listen to the teams”.

Complaints over F1’s new power unit regulations and the energy management required have continued to draw criticism from drivers at the Japanese Grand Prix.

These have only been intensified following Ollie Bearman’s crash in Sunday’s race, when he was caught out by a 50km/h speed differential with Franco Colapinto’s Alpine.

This crash comes as the FIA is due to hold crunch meetings in the coming days on potential rule changes to help alleviate some of the current power unit problems.

While the drivers have been voicing their suggestions and feedback to the FIA, seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton shot down suggestions on Sunday that they will hold any real influence.

“The drivers don’t have a say,” he told the media, including Crash.net.

“We have no power. We’re not on the committee; we have no voting rights.”

‘There’s no category in the world with these closing speeds’

Williams driver Carlos Sainz doubled down on this criticism, noting that the Bearman incident is “the problem when you listen only to the teams”.

“That's the problem when you listen only to the teams, that they will think the racing is OK because maybe they're having fun watching it on the TV,” he said.

“But from a driver standpoint, when you are racing each other, and you realise that there can be 50km/h speed delta, that's actually not racing.

“There's no category in the world where you have this kind of closing speeds because that's when big accidents can happen because it catches you by surprise, you defend late, it catches you or the car [behind].

“Anyway, I really hope they listen to us, and they focus on the feedback we've given them, rather than only listening to the teams.

“[I hope] they come up with a plan for Miami that improves the situation, and a plan also for the medium-term future of these regulations to keep improving it.

“Even if you cannot improve everything for Miami, do another good step in Miami and then a big step for, I don't know if it's next year or later in the season.”

Bearman walked away from his crash without any serious injury, with Haas laying no blame at Franco Colapinto’s door.

The FIA issued a statement on Sunday regarding the crash, which reiterated its commitment to discussing rule changes with relevant stakeholders in the coming weeks.