Hamilton: We can't just stand still and let F1 go in the wrong direction

Triple Formula 1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton has made an impassioned plea to the powers that be to engage with drivers to make the sport great again.

Hamilton spoke to media in the Bahrain paddock, in the wake of an open letter sent by his peers in the GPDA lamenting the state of the sport at the highest level. Although not a member of the F1 drivers' association he clearly supports their call to urgently revamp the sport.

Here are highlights of Hamilton's conversations with journalists on the eve of the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend.

"I am not a member of the GPDA. I was for some years then I opted out, but I was in the meeting when we all sat and collectively stood together as drivers. There are occasionally issues where a united front is necessary and that was one of them."

"Our objective is not to be the decision makers, we don't want to be the decision makers. But we are the only ones out there who can help you know what more is needed in order to make racing fun."

"All of us drivers are doing what we do because we love cars, we love racing, we love wheel-to-wheel racing. We nearly all started in karting and aspired to be like the greats in the past."

"Now when we're driving and we are not being challenged in the way we should be challenged, whether it be physically or mentally, by the car. The decisions that have been taken for the rules are taking it in the wrong direction, We can't just stand still and let it happen."

"People have fallen out of love with the sport and ultimately that will lead to maybe you guys also and also for us and we don't want that, because it has the opportunity to be the greatest sport in the world, which is what it should be."

"I don't have all the answers, but there are many things that can be improved. At the end of the last race I spoke about how the cars can be better. For me it's about the car and how we interact with the fans, how we engage with the fans more, which I try to do on social media."

"Today I had an interview which was great, it was about 2000 when I was in karts. It was some of the best racing I've ever had, with Nico [Rosberg] and other drivers. It was the wheel-to-wheel racing that excited me, and it's hard to have that today. I miss go-karting.

"It's not that I can't overtake a Toro Rosso... It's like you have 100 dollars and you have to spend it over 40 laps. If I spend 90 dollars trying to overtake that car then I'm not going to get to the end of the race. But people don't care, people want to see me race to the end. They want to see me sweat my nuts off and make a fantastic manoeuvre."

"I am not in the GPDA for personal reasons, but when there's a really critical thing - safety or something really important, I'm there. Such as the last race where they wanted us to stand together for our love of this sport."

"I told them: If there's something you really need me for, let me know, and I'll be there, and hopefully I'll agree with you and I'll stand with you."

"You see small things changing over time, but it's too early days to say whether it's really going to make much difference. I do not want to judge it now and then find things don't change. Ultimately our point is just that we want to make racing better."

"People who are watching the race don't know all these different control switches, they just want to see wheel-to-wheel racing. And they want to see battles, they want to see smoke coming out of the back of the car. When you get a lock-up and see a bit of smoke that's exciting."

"One of the best races was 2014 here [Bahrain]. But in order to have that race we had to have a second and half difference in tyres - that was the only way [Rosberg] could get close to me."

"That shows there's something fundamentally wrong. How can we get round that to make it more like that race? Because that was one of the most exciting races I have had in Formula 1. I want that every weekend."

"I want there to be times when you don't have to win but you've had that race at least. It's the most satisfying feeling when you've come from the back and battled through. That's definitely a better feeling that starting from pole and winning."