Lewis Hamilton says Formula One must act before the general public falls out of love with the sport.
The governance of Formula One has come under scrutiny in recent weeks after a decision to change the qualifying format ahead of the season-opener failed to deliver on promises to improve the show. Following the first race in Australia, the Grand Prix Drivers Association (GPDA) wrote an open letter to F1's decision makers calling for a more coherent strategy for future rule changes, while the sport's decision makers failed to agree on a quick fix for qualifying ahead of this weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix.
Hamilton is not a member of the GPDA, but attended meetings with fellow drivers ahead of the letter's publication and has spoken publically about his concerns.
"The qualifying thing, there is a fundamental flaw with it because the teams have to agree on one thing, so if one team decides it isn't beneficial for them then something doesn't get passed," he said. "I think our objective is not to be the decision makers -- we don't want to be the decision makers -- we are just the only ones out there that can know what more is needed in order to make racing fun. As drivers we love the sport, we love racing, we love wheel to wheel racing.
"We started off in go-kart racing and we aspired to be one of the greats in the past and now you are driving and you are not challenged in a way you should be challenged, either physically or mentally, by the car and the rules and the decisions being taken for the rules are going in the wrong direction and we can't stand still and let it happen. People are falling out of love with the sport and ultimately that will lead to you guys [falling out of love] and also us. I don't want that. It has the opportunity to be the greatest sport in the world."
Hamilton said he was not surprised by the failure to agree on qualifying changes ahead of this weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix.
"It's just the way F1 is. It is never a clear cut decision, it is always back-and-forth, back-and-forth... one minute it is one way, one minute it is another way, one minute it is another way. You know when you get lost and you end up where you started? It is interesting considering fans were so upset. I am happy with how it went but I heard there were a couple of teams that didn't want to change it and that stopped it from being changed."