"We don't have a seat at the table," says seven-time world champion, Lewis Hamilton, as he calls for driver involvement when deciding F1's regulations.

For as long as we can remember we have accused the Grand Prix Drivers' Association (GPDA), the so-called drivers' union, of being toothless, in that the drivers have little or no say in the sport in which they risk their lives.

For endless promotional purposes, for flogging tickets, merchandise, booze and just about everything else - even making pratts of themselves on social media and the like - they are at the forefront, but when it comes to driving the four-wheeled missiles that could claim their lives they have no say.

Lewis Hamilton says that has to change.

"All the drivers, we do work together, we all meet," he told reporters in Miami, "but the fact is we don't have a seat at the table.

"We do engage with the FIA and F1," he continued, "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 tyre test, 'You guys should come and speak to us and collaborate with us, we don't want to be slagging off the Pirelli tires, we know you can build a good product'," he said. "But their feedback will be coming from people who have never driven a car before.

"'Speak to us, we'll work hand in hand, we can work together to approach the FIA so we can get a better product'. And 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 are aligned."

The Ferrari driver's comments come in the wake of the recent refinements to the regulations, refinements, which according to Stefano Domenicali and Mohammed ben Sulayem, the drivers had a say.

Lando Norris, one of the most vocal critics of the new rules, agrees with Hamiloton, insisting that drivers want what's best for the sport, and not only, as Domenicali claimed, because it has made them wealthy, superstars.

"Honestly, I think at the minute, all the drivers want the same thing," he said. "From first place to last place, we all want the same thing. We all just want to go flat-out, race closely, and at the same time, that's the show that the fans want. I think having a seat at the table is something we've spoken about as a GPDA. We're all very aligned with that.

"Sometimes, I think we have to accept as drivers we're very blindsided," he added. "Maybe the externals from a business side of things, the teams, how teams work, how all of that's organized. We have to accept that we're maybe not always completely correct, but I think the majority of things that we think of us as drivers and how 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 are not always able to be easily implemented because of how the sport is as a whole, and money and cost of things and all that. Regulations, rules, all of that.

"It's completely correct. It's something that we want. It's what they have in a lot of other sports. It's more of just a louder voice at times rather than drivers on this, why are you not doing it?

"It's just a bit more of a say in some things and persuasion in directions into the future. We just can't voice our opinion as much as what we would like, but that's something we're working on as a collection."

It remains to be seen what difference the refinements make, and it remains to be seen how the drivers will react.

While Lance Stroll is in a position to speak out, clearly unafraid of the consequences, we know that the majority of his colleagues are on tight reins, held by their teams, their sponsors, the FIA and F1, aware that should they rock the boat there is an up and coming F2 or F3 star only too eager to take their place.

Speaking out might have worked a few years back, but under the current regime, and with the teams all keen to extract as much lucre as possible, it is unlikely to work today.