Lewis Hamilton adds voice to call to spice up F1

Lewis Hamilton has backed Bernie Ecclestone’s call for changes to be made to Formula One’s regulations in a bid to spice up the sport.

In an interview aired on German TV earlier this week, Ecclestone was highly critical of the state of grand prix racing.

Ecclestone, who turns 85 next week, went on to describe the sport which he promotes around the world, as an “engineer’s championship”, said the rulebook needs to be “torn up and rewritten” and concluded that Hamilton has been “given a hell of a lot of help” as he closes in on a third world title.

Hamilton has been the dominant force in Formula One over the past two years winning 20 of the last 35 races. He will become the first British driver to seal back-to-back championships if he wins in Austin and Sebastian Vettel, his nearest challenger, finishes third or lower on Sunday.

“It does need to change,” said Hamilton. “For example drag reduction system — an overtaking aide does not feel organic and it does not feel like natural racing, so whatever changes they make, I want to see closer racing, wheel-to-wheel racing.”

Hamilton added: “It needs to be like go-karting was, with guys following in a train and overtaking. We need to try and make Formula One like that somehow. I don’t know how they do it, but it needs to be lot different to what it was in the last 10 years.”