Lewis Hamilton believes his strong relationship with FIA President Mohammed ben Sulayem is good for Formula 1, but that "it takes time" to foster. The Emirati former rally driver ben Sulayem was elected FIA President in December 2021 as previous incumbent Jean Todt reached the end of his term in office. Ben Sulayem was immediately faced with tackling the fallout from the controversial ending to the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and working with Hamilton and Mercedes to investigate and ensure a repeat does not happen. The only brief disagreement between drivers and the FIA was around the time of the Miami Grand Prix in May, when the rule banning drivers from wearing jewellery in the car was to be enforced. This mainly affected Hamilton, who flat out refused to remove his nose piercing, but the rule was not well-received by drivers. However, speaking ahead of the Italian Grand Prix, where he would finish in fifth place, Hamilton opened up about his relationship with the FIA President.
Hamilton reveals encouraging talks with FIA President
"It's not an easy role for anyone," Hamilton commented to media, including RacingNews365.com. "I think it takes time to get into a role and build all the relationships, and also to implement change, but I think the most important thing for right now is the drivers. "We're trying to build that connection with the drivers, all of us at the GPDA are united, and we want to help make the racing better. "We want to help the FIA and Mohammed has been really open with that. "We're just going to continue to work on that communication. I'm in touch with him and we speak quite a lot, and he's very, very driven and competitive - he used to race himself. "He's also very keen on diversity and really pushing for future change - so he wants to collaborate with us on that - I am quite happy about it."
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