The cheering from some spectators following Lewis Hamilton's qualifying mishap at the Austrian Grand Prix on Friday has been criticised as "mind-blowing" by the Mercedes Formula 1 driver.
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The 37-year-old Lewis Hamilton qualified for the Saturday Sprint Race in 10th place on Friday. The Dutch driver’s army of orange supporters at the team’s home race, who collectively turned the Spielberg hills dusty orange for most of the sessions while ratcheting up the smoke flares during the Sprint Race, were thrilled when he started ninth and finished eighth in the 23-lap race won by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. A week earlier, Verstappen had been on the receiving end of boos and the wrong sort of cheers at the British Grand Prix, Hamilton’s home race. The leader of Red Bull’s 2022 Formula One championship was jeered when he slowed down in the Silverstone race, sliding from first to seventh to the pleasure of the local crowd, and booed when he qualified on the front row.
After Hamilton wrecked in the pivotal Q3 practice, the crowd’s response was extremely clear, as it was dominated by Dutch fans. The seven-time world champion earlier addressed the matter in front of Silverstone fans, telling them, “We’re better than that”. “I didn’t hear them during [the accident], I mean, I was going through a bunch of stuff in the crash,” he said when asked about the reaction of the fans. But to hear it afterwards, you know, I don’t agree or condone any of that no matter what. A driver could have been in hospital. And you’re going to cheer that? I mean, it’s just mind-blowing that people will do that, just knowing how dangerous our sport is. And I’m grateful that I wasn’t in hospital, and I wasn’t heavily injured, but you should never cheer someone’s downfall or someone’s injury or crash. “It shouldn’t have happened in Silverstone, even though it wasn’t obviously a crash, and it shouldn’t have happened here.”
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Not Happy with his own fans
Last week at Silverstone, Lewis Hamilton’s supporters spent the weekend jeering Dutchman Verstappen, who had been engaged in a fierce championship race the year before. When Hamilton of Mercedes crashed out of qualifying, the 50,000 Dutch fans who had gathered at the Austrian GP venue under the banner of the “orange army” applauded furiously. “Basically, I think it’s a shame that the fans actually react like football fans, who always boo the opponent,” world champion Verstappen reported to Sport1. In the Netherlands they whistle against Lewis, in England it’s against me. I think that’s a shame because we often have extremely tough, sporting, high quality fights. You also have to respect your opponent. I’m a PSV (Dutch football team) fan, but when I watch a great game, I enjoy it whether my team wins or loses. It would be nice if the fans behaved like that in our sport,” the 24-year-old added.
