Hamilton says what many F1 fans will be thinking

With Formula One fans looking forward to the Australian Grand Prix out on Melbourne's race track, Red Bull's Max Verstappen is the firm favourite to win his third GP of the 2024 race calendar after his previous two successes, which have already given him a good early advantage again.

But sadly it is not the only F1 news in the headlines right now, as the sport is rarely far from controversy, and the year of 2024 is shaping up to be no different, and the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, Red Bull's Christian Horner and F1 Academy director Susie Wolff (wife of Mercedes' team principal Toto) are involved in three of the biggest stories around right now.

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Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton is rarely one to hide from controversy himself and giving his thoughts on political issues as well as the problems that he continues to see within F1 itself and in the build up to the Australian action he restated that right now there is 'no transparency and no accountability' when asked about the off track wrangles that continue.

"With the FIA, things happening behind closed doors, there is no accountability and the fans need that. How can you trust the sport and what is happening here if you don't have that?"

Hamilton went on to praise Susie Wolff for standing up for herself and taking legal action against the FIA following their controversial conflict of interest inquiry into her, and there was a certain irony in the fact that Wolff announced her legal case (believed to be a defamation claim against senior figures within the FIA) on the very same day that their ethics committee cleared its own president, Mohammed Ben Sulayem, of claims that he had interfered with the Saudi Arabian and Las Vegas Grand Prix's last year.

Hamilton pulled no punches when this came up in his interview and when asked if the president still had his confidence, he stating simply '(He) never has' and the instantly pivoted back to Wolff taking her complaint outside of the world of F1 in an effort to get a far more positive result - as opposed to leaving it within the male dominated closed shop that exists.

His choice of words also made many think that it was a cross reference to Horner's recent issues, wherein the female complainant has now been suspended from her role at Red Bull, despite being in the process of appealing against their decision to dismiss her complaint. He did not specifically reference this issue with names, but the following speaks for itself really.

"It is still a male-dominated sport. And we are living in a time where the message is: 'If you file a complaint, you will be fired.' And that is a terrible narrative to be projecting to the world, especially when we're talking about inclusivity."

In George Russell's own pre race interviews, he backed up his colleague by restating the point about transparency and the fact that right now, decisions are being made behind closed doors where people do not have access to the 'facts and figures' that are at play and can therefore be content with the judgements that are being made - it naturally leads people to believe that something is being 'hidden'.

Whilst the comments rightly do not actually focus directly on the three issues currently at hand and make determinations there, fans in the racing world will more than agree with the thrust when it comes to being more open, more honest and more accountable.

Nobody could say that would not be a good thing.